





LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 



Shelf. m 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 















STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT 



STUDIES 



IN THE 



New Testament 




BY 

CHAS. S. ROBINSON D.D. 

Pastor of the Memorial Church New York City 



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Mc 22.fA.i- 




NEW YORK 

CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

743 and 745 Broadway 

1880 



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Copyright by 
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS. 

1880. 



Trow's 

Printing and Bookbinding Co., 

201-213 East i2.th St., 

NEW YORK. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 

I.— Peace with God. i 

Romans 5 : 1. 

II. — The Security of Believers. 14 

Romans 8 : 28. 

III.— Christian Love .25 

1 Corinthians 13: 13. 

IV.— Victory over Death 37 

1 Corinthians 15 : 54. 

V.— An Ordained Ministry. 48 

2 Corinthians 5 : 20. 

VI. — The Christian Armor. . 61 

Ephesians 6 : 11. 

VII.— The Mind of Christ. . 73 

Philippians 2 : 5. 

VIII.— Piety Tested at Home. 84 

Colossians 3 : 23. 

IX.— The Coming of the Lord 95 

1 Thessalonians 4 : 15. 

X. — The Christian in the World. . . . . . 107 

1 Timothy 6 : 6, 7. 

XI.— The Christian Citizen 119 

Titus 3 : 1, 2. 

XII.— Shadow and Substance 130 

Colossians 2 : 17. 

XIII.— Saving Faith 143 

Hebrews 11 : 1. 

XIV.— Pure Religion. 158 

James 1 : 27. 



VI CONTENTS, 



PAGE 

XV.— Faith Working by Love 169 

Galatians 5 : 6. 

XVI.— The Sweat of Blood. 180 

Luke 22 : 44. 

XVII.— Sin Cleansed by Blood 193 

1 John 1 : 7. 

XVIII.— Love as a Force. 203 

1 John 4 : 19. 

XIX.— Alpha and Omega 214 

Revelation 1 : 8. 

XX.— The Message to the Churches 224 

Revelation 3 : 6. 

XXL— The Few in Sardis. 234 

Revelation 3 : 4. 

XXII.— The Lion of Judah 249 

Revelation 5 : 5. 

XXIII.— The Singing Legions of God 261 

Revelation 5 : 9, 10. 

XXIV.— The Heavenly City 271 

Revelation 21 : 2. 

XXV.— The Final Prayer. 283 

Revelation 22 : 20. 

XXVI.— The Teacher Taught 294 

Romans 2 : 21. 

XXVII.— Four Pillars of the Church. t . 307 

Galatians 2 : 9. 



PREFACE 



THESE studies in the New Testament were not de- 
signed for pulpit discourses, although some of them 
may seem like sermons. They were prepared as 
articles for a religious newspaper, in connection with 
the series of International Lessons. 

The author does not care to change the pieces from 
their colloquial form, lest they should appear un- 
familiar to those who have expressed the wish to 
have them in a volume. 

Memorial Church, 

New York, February 15, 1880. 



STUDIES IN 

THE NEW TESTAMENT. 



I. 

PEACE WITH GOD. 



Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. — Romans 5 : 1. 

We live in one great world of trouble. It is proba- 
ble that such a remark has been made before. People 
hardly imagine any one has said an original thing when 
he has repeated it. But in most cases they would fol- 
low it up with some other remarks, about themselves or 
their families or their neighbors, in which a plausible 
theory might be set forth as to the ways in which the 
trouble has been actually brought on ; that is, as they 
look at the subject. 

There is no need of any differences among thinkers 
on this point ; for the unerring word of inspiration 
plainly says that the disturbing force is sin. All the 
world's confusions, perplexities, and sorrows grow up, 
in one way or another, out of men's transgressions and 
defiant disregard of law. 



PEACE WITH GOD. 



Sin makes trouble. Sicilian shadows. 

Yet not everybody chooses to admit that. Certain 
duties to be performed, certain pressures of conscience 
giving pain, are likely to be offered in the discussion, 
if we urge into much conspicuousness the relations 
between the human will and the divine. It will be 
asserted that traditions of anger in the Supreme Being, 
some report of possible threats early made, coupled 
with an industrious reiteration of foreboding by a few 
credulous alarmists, have done most of the mischief. 
It would soon quiet down, if men and women would 
just take comfort in what is given them and let pre- 
sages alone. 

Tourists say that across the fair plains of Sicily, with 
the rising of every new dawn, stretches one deep line 
of darkness, drawn by the pyramidal form of Mount 
Etna. It is the unvarying reminder of the ruin that 
may at any hour fall heavily from the volcano's crater. 
And yet the inhabitants forbid you to speak of that 
giant phantom which lies sleeping upon their gardens 
and meadows through all those smiling villages. They 
do not altogether admit, in so many words, that any 
one hopes to keep the lava from bursting or burning, 
by turning toward the mountain the cold shoulder of 
blank indifference ; but they do assert, most strenuously, 
that conversation about the matter is not going to bet- 
ter the case, and only renders people more uncomforta- 
ble all around. It is true always there, that the brighter 
is the day, the plainer is the outline of shadow ; and 
hence every joy they possess exhibits the more surely 



PEACE WITH GOD, 



The troubled sea. Antagonism. 

the precursor of sorrow and peril. But good-breeding 
is invoked to check passing remarks which in timid per- 
sons might force a shudder, or possibly drive a melan- 
choly mind into fear. 

Thus we live under the immediate shadow of divine 
wrath. The gloomy projection lies across the land. 
Men choose to think that there is nothing but incivil- 
ity in a reminder of the coming day of final judgment. 
It jars on delicate nerves. Still, it is better to believe 
that a few desire to be intelligent. What is it that breaks 
up the peace in this world ? What will bring tranquil- 
lity and rest ? 

" There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. I 
create the fruit of the lips — peace, peace to him that is 
far off, and to him that is near, saith the Lord, and I 
will heal him. But the wicked are like the troubled 
sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and 
dirt. ,, 

Can anyone be mistaken? In all this familiar pas- 
sage it is made evident that the worry and unrest of the 
human soul depend simply upon its moral state. If it 
is in antagonism with God, then a deep-seated source of 
irritation and uneasiness is lodged in the centre of its 
being. No quiet can possibly be found until that soul 
comes to be at one with God, and adjusts all its pur- 
poses to meet his declared will. "The fruit of right- 
eousness is sown in peace of them that make peace/' 
Hence, the words of that fine verse in Isaiah's prophecy : 
"The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the 



PEACE WITH GOD. 



Justification. A legal term. 

effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever ; 
and my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and 
in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places." 

The question all turns, therefore, upon the possession 
of what in the New Testament is termed justification — 
the same thing as what is also called righteousness : 
" Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with 
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ : by whom also we 
have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, 
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." 

It becomes us in the outset to understand that right- 
eousness is a purely individual acquisition. The gospel 
deals with human beings one by one. A nation is to be 
converted in no other sense than in the conversion of 
the men, women, and children that compose it. And in 
all our pictures of the world in pain, it is never to be 
forgotten that the source of annoyance is in the sinful- 
ness of a heart, not of a community or a corporation. 
Whenever any one person yields his love to Christ, he 
does in that way more than he can do in any other way 
to relieve the world of confusion. For, in so far as his 
influence is to be reckoned at all, his measure of right- 
eousness brings a measure of peace. 

What, then, is this " justification by faith," about 
which so much is said ? In a mere theological form of 
reply perhaps no good will be found, but statements like 
these need to be accurate. The term is entirely legal. 
A sinner is conceived as condemned at the bar of God's 
justice ; the punishment for his sins is death. Now 



PEACE WITH GOD. 



The surety. Paul's picture. 

Jesus Christ, as a redeemer and surety, comes and as- 
sumes the sinner's exposures and liabilities. In effect, 
he stands in the sinner's place. 

This is the picture so often presented by the apostle 
Paul in more than one of his remarkable chapters ; he 
appears never to be tired of it. Vividly seeming to see 
the crucifixion scene, that in which Jesus on the cross is 
the central figure, he explains its mystery by declaring 
that this perfectly holy being was suffering not for any 
sins of his own, but for the sins of another. Jesus was 
making an atonement for men. Hence, a substitution 
was effected for all that would accept him by faith. It 
is the mere plainness of this action which renders Paul's 
language so dramatic and picturesque. He can behold 
nothing more nor less than a Redeemer bearing men's 
guilt, and giving them his merit. So his descriptions 
swell with strong feeling, and fairly tremble with grate- 
ful acknowledgment. 

" For when we were yet without strength, in due time 
Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a right- 
eous man will one die : yet peradventure for a good man 
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth 
his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, 
Christ died for us." 

Peace comes, therefore, when purity has come before- 
hand. " First pure, then peaceable." Saved souls are 
pardoned for Christ's sake ; God thereafter looks upon 
them as if they never had sinned. So the old standard 
formulates the doctrine : " Justification is an act of 



PEACE WITH GOD. 



" First pure." Martin Luther. 

God's free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and 
accepteth us as righteous in his sight, only for the right- 
eousness of Christ imputed to us, and received by faith 
alone." It is designed in these quoted verses to teach 
that just so long as any man is an unpardoned sinner, 
he will be disturbed and in trouble ; he cannot rest. 
But the moment he is justified by faith, and is forgiven 
in the name of the Lord Jesus, he is at peace. His na- 
ture is restored, his state of condemnation is changed. 
The earliest fruit and effect of his new righteousness is 
quietness and assurance forever. 

The story is told of Martin Luther, whose hours of 
guilt and conviction were so filled with wild and fearful 
dreams, that once the evil one, Satan, appeared to enter 
his room, and with an air of insolent triumph displayed 
a vast roll of parchment, which he carried in his arms. 
Luther asked him what that was ; and received the 
alarming reply : " It is a catalogue of all your former 
sins ! " 

He leaped from his bed in an impulse of mortal agony 
and terror. With a hollow burst of derisive laughter 
the fiend threw it on the floor, still holding one end in 
his hand so that it might easily unroll its awful length. 
There the frightened man was compelled to read, hour 
after hour, the terrible list of all the wicked deeds he 
had done in all his life. There were the offenses and 
follies of his youth. There were the transgressions of 
his riper years. He groaned in the bitterness of his 
soul, as he discovered, every now and then, some miser- 



PEACE WITH GOD. 



Lists of sins. The devil's perversion. 

able little vileness, or some daring act of impiety, which 
he had almost forgotten, but here instantly recognized ; 
some unseen, undisclosed, secret transgression he had 
vainly imagined no one had detected, or even conceived 
he could commit 

There they all were ; and, oh, how black the ink 
seemed, and how imperishable the parchment seemed, 
and how long the great roll seemed, and how tightly 
the overjoyed devil in his fiery glee held it clenched 
in his fingers ! There the sins were ; just as he knew 
now some pen of a recording angel had noted them 
down ; just as he knew, beyond a doubt now, that God 
would one time set them before him in array under 
the light of his countenance. And his heart failed 
him as he gazed. He bent his head hopelessly in sor- 
row and shame, with a fearful foreboding of the wrath 
to come. 

Suddenly the devil called him by name, and pointed 
to some words along the top of the roll just where his 
hand held it. Luther looked up and read aloud : " All 
sin;" and then he understood that no one of the many 
acts, or even thoughts, was to be left out. His form 
began to shiver, and he says he was seized with a vio- 
lent fit of trembling. Hell appeared opening at once 
under his feet. His agony was intense. He could 
not bear to look at the roll. But Satan kept scream- 
ing, "All sin! all sin!" And at last, in order to 
afflict him the more, exclaimed, "So says God, so 
says God, all sin, all sin!" 



8 PEACE WITH GOD. 

"All sin." No more fear. 

Now the man's study of Scripture stood him in ex- 
cellent stead. For he looked up defiantly, saying, 
"Where speaks God that word?" And he sprang 
from his couch, a new thought in his mind. "In 
what chapter, and what verse ? Where says God 
that ? " he thundered with clear voice like a trumpet 
of challenge. "There, there!" answered the devil, 
pointing again to the parchment, and putting his 
fiery finger on the two words, "all sin, all sin." The 
reformer, brave for a moment with a blessed thought 
in his heart, snatched the awful list away from his 
enemy, and unrolling it one turn more, in the other 
direction, discovered, as he hoped he would, the re- 
mainder of the inscription. There it explained itself ; 
to be sure, Satan had quoted correctly, for he read, 
"all sin, all sin." But right above these were the 
other words, as in the Bible : " The blood of Jesus 
Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin ! " So he 
learned that all that his sins had been massed to- 
gether upon that roll for, w r as in order to announce 
that atonement had been made completely to cover 
them. And with a glad cry of exultant joy he awoke, 
while the devil disappeared with all his parchment 
of sorrow and woe. 

It is when a man knows his sins are all in the bur- 
den Jesus bore on the Calvary cross, that he has no 
longer any fear about them. The work of righteous- 
ness is peace, and the effect of righteousness is quiet- 
ness and assurance forever. Being justified by faith, 



PEACE WITH GOD. 



Conquered peace. Espousal to Christ. 

he has peace. And now he settles down, like a re- 
turned prodigal, just to learn how he can do most to 
please his Father. He begins to understand his own 
devious history. He sees a new meaning to his life. 
He recognizes the fact that God is wiser than he 
supposed. For while this hard will of his has been 
wandering foolishly around after rest, the gentleness 
above has been guiding him into greatness in despite 
of himself. All peace in this world is a conquered 
peace. Now we, who have been in warfare, see that 
in fighting others we have been triumphing over our- 
selves ; when we attempted to subdue Satan, we at 
least brought home a subdued spirit of our own. 
We are sure that the past is altogether safe, and the 
future will be secure, for God is leading us all the 
way. 

"And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also ; 
knowing that tribulation worketh patience ; and pa- 
tience, experience ; and experience, hope ; and hope, 
maketh not ashamed ; because the love of God is 
shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost which 
is given unto us." 

It is not possible to put into forms of colloquial 
speech the sources of enjoyment which a pardoned 
believer knows when he is once possessed of the 
peace which passes understanding ; the soul like a 
bride rests in a love it cannot explain, when the 
sweet day of espousal to Christ has been reached. 
The Christian cannot be alone, for a happy con- 



10 PEACE WITH GOD. 

The soul's Sabbath. Richard Baxter. 

science, like a bird in his heart, keeps singing cheer- 
ily to give him company. He has no alarms, no sus- 
picions. Nothing breaks up the calm, bright serenity 
of his trustful repose in Christ Jesus. "Thou wilt 
keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on 
thee; because he trusteth in thee." Such an one has 
reached the final tranquillity of the soul. 

" Far, far beneath — the noise of tempest dieth, 
And silver waves chime ever peacefully; 
And no rude storm, how fierce soe'er it flieth, 
Disturbs the Sabbath of that deeper sea." 

Nor is this all : peace brings prosperity. God opens 
the door of his treasury of promise to the souls he has 
welcomed into the palace. He loves his Son, and they 
are his Son's friends. The moment we are certain of 
a Saviour's love, all inferior considerations vanish. If 
our feet are upon the Rock of Ages it does not mat- 
ter at all where the danger threatens. Mourning, de- 
sertion, disappointment, poverty, sickness — nothing 
can bear us away before it. We do not even fear the 
king of terrors, nor shrink from the rack of nature 
as he draws near. "I have pain," said Richard Bax- 
ter, on his dying bed, " I have pain ; there is no 
arguing against sense ; but then, I have peace, great 
peace ! " To any true believer, there is no shock in 
the appearance of that messenger who announces his 
departure. He seems to himself even now sitting in 
the antechamber of the palace, waiting ; and death is 



PEACE WITH GOD. II 

The antidote. A criminal. 

only the black-dressed servant who comes out to say 
the king is ready to see him in the throne-room. 

Now surely it is worth something, in a world like 
this, to find one antidote for wakefulness and unrest. 
This is the peace which the world can neither give 
nor take away. Once we are forgiven, our hearts 
are in perfect content. Our natures have reached 
their full satisfaction in God. Thus we reason : God 
has redeemed us ; he had his purpose in it ; he gave 
his Son to suffering and shame ; therein we rest ; 
"much more then, being now justified by his blood, 
we shall be saved from wrath through him ; for if 
when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God 
by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, 
we shall be saved by his life." 

Each Christian receives a testimony in his soul which 
settles all his fears for the future. He has put his case 
out of his own hands ; he cannot even ruin it by his own 
folly of mismanagement ; he has an advocate at last with 
the Father whom he can trust implicitly, even Jesus 
Christ the righteous. So he waits tranquilly for the 
judgment, knowing he is prepared for it, and shall stand 
clear in the end. 

Years ago, I somewhere read of a criminal on trial for 
capital misdemeanor. The evidence proved most over- 
whelmingly against him. The law was explicit. There 
seemed no avenue of escape. The people grew anxious 
in his behalf, as the verdict of condemnation inevitably 
drew nearer. Yet all the while this prisoner at the bar 



12 PEACE WITH GOD. 

Pardon in possession. Safe because "lost." 

kept inexplicably calm. His eye never once quailed, 
although the most damaging facts continually came to 
light. At last the jury returned, and the fatal decision 
was rendered ; and all that the culprit did was to draw 
a long sigh of unmistakable relief. The bystanders 
marvelled at his self-control, and grew curious over the 
secret of his serenity ; and especially when they ima- 
gined they detected in his unembarrassed demeanor a 
strange sort of triumph. 

By and by, when the sentence of death was pro- 
nounced, he arose in his place, and laid before his 
judges a full pardon for the crime of which he had been 
just now convicted — a pardon which all along he had 
held hidden in his bosom. They examined the roll with 
eager scrutiny, and found that it really was his discharge. 
It left no further question. It had indeed been signed 
by the hand of their generous sovereign, and sealed with 
the grand signet of the realm. There remained no more 
to be done. And amid the shouts of the people the man 
went immediately forth free. The law's demands were 
cancelled. 

Now, does it need to be asked what was the secret of 
this quiet assurance ? He had looked on himself as con- 
victed from the very commencement of the trial, and in 
that fixed expectation found his entire comfort. Every 
item of testimony which pointed toward his possible ex- 
culpation was really just so much in his way, and always 
caused him anxiety. For he knew he was guilty, and 
he could not use a pardon unless he was condemned. 



PEACE WITH GOD. I J 

Robert Browning. The Talmud. 

Hence, with each step in the evidence that pressed 
heaviest, his joyous hopes rose. He was nearing deliv- 
erance. He could say : " I am safe, because I am lost ! " 

Fine illustration is this throughout of a true Christian's 
ineffable peace. He owns himself the very culprit he is 
at the bar of divine justice. To clear him would be to 
deprive him of all interest in the atonement, and shut 
him away out of Christ ; for Christ came not to save 
righteous people, but sinners. He knows, therefore, 
that he cannot be pardoned unless he is first found 
guilty. And the moment he is condemned, he takes his 
pardon out of his bosom and stands free in the grace of 
God. Being justified by faith, he has peace with God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

There is no other way of relief than this. The trouble 
in the world is met by the gospel of peace. Hence the 
force of Robert Browning's couplet : 

" He who first made us see the chains we wore, 
He also strikes the blow that shatters them.' , 

And that gospel admits of no improvement, however 
fair and promising. The old fable of the Talmud is a 
parable. There was a flute in the Temple, preserved 
from the days of Moses. It was smooth, thin, and 
formed of a reed. At the command of the king, it was 
overlaid with precious gold. And thus its sweetness 
was ruined till the gold was taken away. 



II. 

. THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 

And we know that all things work together for good to 
them that love god, to them who are the called accord- 
ING TO HIS PURPOSE.— -Romans 8 : 28. 

In a life like this, where nobody seems able to do 
more than conjecture and surmise, suppose, imagine, 
and speculate, it is a comfort to find even one man who 
can honestly declare he knows to a certainty that what 
he says is true. And indeed, it is still more remarkable, 
and still more comforting withal, to find that what he 
knows is that exactly which we have had most doubt 
about. Hence no words in the New Testament come 
to us with more welcome or more wonder than these : 
" And we know that all things work together for good 
to them that love God, to them who are the called ac- 
cording to his purpose." 

Without doubt, the apostle is following on closely 
with his train of argument ; and so these utterances 
must be connected with what goes before, and of course 
will find their first as well as their most legitimate ex- 
planation in the context. He means by this expression, 
" all things," all of which he has been speaking, all these 
things. And these are what he calls in general terms 
"the sufferings of the present time." Hence the verse 
brings us at least this one thought, which in itself is 



THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. IS 

All in one plan. Analysis. 

very valuable : whatever in the providential arrange- 
ments of our daily existence during this imperfect state 
can make our hearts to suffer, has a consolatory allevia- 
tion behind it, that it is a part of one omniscient plan 
for our permanent benefit. It is working with other 
things for our good. 

Our perplexities and our harassments, our losses and 
our crosses, our wounded pride and our disappointed 
ambition, the desertion of our companion, the betrayal 
of our friend, our fears without and our fightings with- 
in, poverty, sickness, and bereavement, our doubts, our 
temptations, and our conflicts, indeed, w T hatever can 
make the brain weary or the heart sore — all these work 
together for good. 

Such a verse as this, therefore, is simply priceless. 
It discloses a principle in the governing of this world 
which reduces everything to order. All these multiform 
and in many respects antagonistic agents are merely 
moving on to accomplish God's will for his chosen. 
Life is a beautiful picture of method and fixed law. 
The verse is worth an analysis, and might do for the 
text of a profitable sermon. All things act energetically — 
they "work." All things act harmoniously — they "work 
together." All things act beneficently — they "work toge- 
ther for good." All things act definitely — they "work 
together for good to them that love God, to them who 
are the called according to his purpose." 

The word rendered work here is one of the strongest 
in the language in which the New Testament was writ- 



l6 THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 

Divine energy. The river Chebar. 

ten. It is that from which our word "energy" comes 
by derivation. And the apostle employs it to denote 
the intensest and most tireless activity possible or con- 
ceivable. The universe is all alive under the divine 
hand. Jesus Christ said, as if to enforce the thought, 
" My Father w r orketh hitherto, and I work." The earth 
rocks with the violence of the history that sweeps across 
it. 

One grand vision there is presented to us in the Scrip- 
tures, which is intended to image directly the unresting 
and tireless providence of God. It is that which the 
prophet Ezekiel saw by the river Chebar, the living 
creatures and the wheels. As you study his descrip- 
tion, no one characteristic will more impress itself upon 
your imagination than the limitless energy with w T hich 
all their movements are accomplished. The living crea- 
tures had wings, but even the wings were stretched up- 
ward. They went ; but we are told that when they 
went, they flew. They were like lamps ; but the lamps 
seemed unable to be still ; they blazed to and fro, up 
and down. They were like coals of fire ; but the coals 
were neither lurid nor dull, they burned and flashed 
with kindled flame. And they "ran and returned as 
the appearance of a flash of lightning." 

Now, remember that all these are but symbols of the 
providential interpositions of God in human affairs. 
Let any thoughtful man cast his eye around the world 
as it has appeared during the past five or ten years. 
See how events have hurried. There has not been one 



THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 1 7 

The Breaker. Orange-trees. 

day of quiet in all the grand army of God. Despotisms 
have been overturned. Thrones have been moved. 
Many a door has been opened for the gospel almost as 
mysteriously as that of Simon Peter's prison by the 
angel from heaven. You may call these movements the 
advancement of civilization as you will ; they are really 
the " workings'' of God in person. This is the fulfill- 
ment of prophecy: "The breaker is come up before 
them ; they have broken up and have passed through 
the gate, and are gone out by it, and their King shall 
pass before them, and the Lord on the head of them." 
One purpose of God rules the whole world. 

What is that purpose ? The verses which follow this 
one state it clearly : " For whom he did foreknow, he 
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of 
his Son, that he might be the first-born among many 
brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate, them 
he also called : and whom he called, them he also jus- 
tified : and whom he justified, them he also glorified.' , 
Here is one vast plan to bring home the sons of God 
to glory ; and they have to be chosen, trained in spirit, 
called, justified by an atonement, and glorified. The 
purpose is complex in particulars, and no one was 
ever able just to arrange the details in order of time. 
To our human eyes God's decrees seem — like oranges 
in the tropics — to be growing on the tree of life, blos- 
soms and fruits at the very same moment. When he 
began to predestinate, or when he will cease to glo- 
rify, we cannot say. But it is evident that he is agi- 



1 8 THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 

Working M together." Wheels. 

tating the race with all these decrees at once. The 
principal difficulty we experience, and the chief mis- 
take we make, is in thinking that because we can see 
how things work, we can also pronounce how they work 
together. We try to adjust the wheels in the middle of 
the wheels. 

In the proudest moment of our vaunting wisdom, we 
find ourselves entirely at fault in prediction. Results 
prove our computations to be puerile and vain. We 
are wont to look upon the world part at a time. We 
imagine we quite understand the architecture of the 
universe when we have examined one brick under a 
microscope. We study history piecemeal, and are fain 
to complain that it eludes all law of sagacious anticipa- 
tion. Why should it not? For God brings to naught 
the things that are by the things that are not ; and when 
the information of most of us is so short concerning 
things that are, who shall say he is acquainted with 
all the possibilities of things that are not? 

Hence our impertinence. Because we are disap- 
pointed, we assert that the race is governed by a 
reckless caprice. Comets of " things that are not," 
keep dashing in among the planets "that are," which 
we had just got arranged to suit our plan when we 
had arisen to prophesy. And w T e cry out that life is 
unsettled, and events are lawless. Some wheels, we 
deem ourselves profound enough to say, are working 
in the wrong direction. Some levers, we are certain, 
act backward and cause collision. It needs a great 



THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 19 

Everything right now. God's river. 

deal of humility to admit that we know nothing 
about the manner in which the spiritual adjustments 
are made, and tranquilly to rest in the satisfied con- 
clusion that all the machinery of divine government 
is managed safely, and is under intelligent control. 
All things work "together." 

Nor is this all : even the highest faith seems some- 
times to think it has reached proper measure of ac- 
quiescence when it can say that all will be right by 
and by. True confidence is that which can answer, 
it is all right now. One fine point there is in this 
verse which must not be overlooked. Inspiration 
sometimes resides in a tense of grammar. And the 
verse does not assert — all things will work together 
for good — but all things are now working. The mu- 
tual arrangements for advantage are moving forward 
this very day and hour. Your little trouble and mine, 
yesterday and this morning, is fully as much embraced 
in the divine plan as Ahasuerus' sleepless night, Paul's 
shipwreck, or Isaiah's martyrdom. God's understand- 
ing is clear, and anticipatory of these human experi- 
ences. 

We must rid our minds of the impression that the 
stream of almighty providence is like a turbid rivulet, 
which a child knows he must wait to have settled be- 
fore it will run crystal after a storm. God's river of 
human life is impenetrable to our eyes, not because 
it is roiled with the rubbish of earthly confusion, but 
because in itself it is deep and shadowy in majestic 



20 THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 

On the banks. The saints' song. 

windings of its channel. If a man supposes that he 
can always fathom a purpose which begins at the 
throne of the Lamb, runs through foreknowledge and 
predestination, touches at conformity and the supre- 
macy of Christ, flows across effectual calling, broad- 
ens into justification, and ends in glory, he has poor 
register of his own attainments and wonderful con- 
ceit of his own gifts. He who sits down on the banks 
of the two verses I have just quoted, would do well 
to let sounding-lines alone, and look along the sweet 
shores where he will find many a tree with glorious 
fruitage, whose leaves are for the healing of the na- 
tions. 

So here is a moment for us to sing a bright song. 
All things not only work together, but work together 
" for good." The expression, literally rendered, would 
read, they work together into good. They all play 
into one grand purpose, and that is beneficent in its 
bearing altogether. "What shall we then say to 
these things ? If God be for us, who can be against 
us ? He that spared not his own Son, but delivered 
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also 
freely give us all things ? Who shall lay anything to 
the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth: 
who is he that condemneth ? It is Christ that died, 
yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the 
right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for 



us." 



Now let us note, for one thing, that this good of 



THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 21 

In dividual good. We shall know hereafter. 

which the apostle is speaking is individual good, as 
distinct from universal. Hitherto it has been deemed 
a necessary element of all human philosophies that 
now and then it should be expedient to have one 
man die for the nation ; that in some instances an 
isolated interest must be struck down in order to save 
the public weal. But with God this is not so. No 
friction nor fracture can be found in his government. 
The "good" is for all because it is for each. The 
general good is secured by securing the individual 
good universally. 

And then let us note, for another tiling, that this good 
of which the apostle is speaking is real good, as distinct 
f rom apparent. Under the gospel these do indeed often 
coincide. Honor and thrift, success and fame, accrue 
not infrequently to the Christian. But this is all adven- 
titious ; the aim is at the real good, whether it can be 
seen or not seen. What that may be in any specific 
case, God knows best ; and he acts on his own knowl- 
edge, not on our impressions or in answ T er to our desires. 
That is to say, he is the judge concerning the particular 
good for the accomplishment of which all the agencies 
of his providence are moving forward. 

So it may be quite possible, and doubtless it is often 
the case, that circumstances of deepest trial are all the 
time working for our prodigious advantage ; and yet 
the world is pitying our misfortune, and even we our- 
selves are disposed to murmur at the sharp lot, rather 
than wait for the result of the discipline. 



22 THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 

The chrysalis state. Am I his ? 

" Here in our chrysalis state we lie, 

Shaping our wings for a heavenly birth ; 
And the spirit, which fain would mount and fly, 

Is bound by life's pitiful clogs to earth. 
But sooner or later its chains shall be riven: 

We shall gain the knowledge for which we sigh ; 
Why much was withheld, and little given — 

We shall know God's reason by and by." 



Meantime, it must never be forgotten that providence 
works definitely, and chooses its own beneficiaries. The 
recipients of God's favor are — on the human side — those 
"that love God;" and — on the divine side — those who 
are the "called according to his purpose." Whoever 
loves God is the elect of God. Whether any one of us 
in particular, therefore, is of right embraced in such an 
announcement as that we have been studying, depends 
on a solemn question yet unanswered, " Am I his, or 
am I not ? " Once that is settled, the security of each 
believer is fixed. " Who shall separate us from the love 
of Christ ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, 
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? As it is 
written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long, we 
are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all 
these things we are more than conquerors, through him 
that loved us." 

In one supreme moment now real Christians sweep 
out of their individual nothingness, and become the 
very notables — the kings and priests of Christ's realm. 

It may not be easy to explain philosophically how it 



THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 23 

The widow's hymn. Minor disquiets. 

happens that a believer's soul is perfectly at rest in the 
midst of tempestuous troubles, as soon as he is certain 
that Christ is his Saviour under the covenant ; but as- 
suredly this is a fact. I once knew a devoted woman, 
whose husband was brought dead into her room, after 
an hour's departure in the fulness of strength. They 
laid him on the sofa, while the tearless wife sat dis- 
tracted, smoothing his hair. No one could speak, as 
the awful hour passed on. Suddenly she turned to the 
hushed group of friends around : " Will some one please 
start a hymn ? " was her amazing request. They could 
not choose. One whispered, "God moves in a myste- 
rious way." Another suggested, " In the Christian's 
home in glory." But they finally appealed to the 
mourner to make her own choice. She exclaimed in- 
stantly, " Not all the blood of beasts." 

They obeyed, of course ; and through the first two or 
three stanzas she simply beat the time with an uncon- 
scious gesture. But as they advanced, her voice began 
to join with the others. When they reached, "My faith 
would lay her hand," she suddenly spoke the words, and 
sang on, while her eyes filled with sweet, natural tears. 
And in the last verse she found her comfort, for her soul 
went wholly out in joy under the fresh sense of par- 
doned sin : if only her future was secure, what mattered 
earthly trial now ? 

The meaning of all this experience seems to be found 
in the fact that, once the Christian reaches his spiritual 
rest in a Saviour, all minor disquiets cease to disturb 



24 THE SECURITY OF BELIEVERS. 

Nothing going a wreck. God's love. 

him. When sin is removed, God is his father, Jesus is 
his elder brother, and heaven is his home. Hence he 
abides in the confidence of an unfaltering faith. 

What new significance such a consideration puts upon 
our daily life ! See where we are to-day. One all-per- 
vading spirit agitates the world. The old earth is but 
the field now w T here redemption is working out for our 
race ; God spares the planet yet a w T hile from final fires 
just for that. We see strange sights and cannot un- 
derstand them. Dismal forebodings, falling fortunes, 
thwarted plans, tumults, wars, pestilences, and earth- 
quakes — all this world is restless and alarmed. Still 
nothing is going awreck. " O ye of little faith ! why 
are ye troubled ? " 

Let the deluge rise at will : it will only bear each 
floating ark nearer heaven. "For I am persuaded that 
neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord." 



III. 

CHRISTIAN LOVE. 

And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three ; but 
the greatest of these is charity. — i Corinthians 13 : 13. 

In an old ecclesiastical tradition it is related of the 
apostle John, who was then the very last of the chosen 
followers of Jesus, that in his closing years of feeble- 
ness, when too infirm for walking, he was wont to be 
borne into the Christian assemblies for the mere pur- 
pose of repeating a brief sentence : " Little children, 
love one another." 

He was the apostle of love, as Paul was the apostle of 
logic. So it is exceedingly interesting to find Paul in 
one great instance giving a description of that peculiar 
grace which John had so urged and exemplified. For 
certainly everybody understands that the gift called 
" charity," in 1 Corinthians 13, is nothing more nor 
less than Christian love. Our later uses of the word 
have limited it, so that it refers now almost exclusively 
to generosity in the bestowment of alms. But in the 
New Testament it signifies that far-reaching brotherly 
affection which is the peculiar characteristic of the 
household of God. 

Surely, if there be upon this earth anywhere a class 



26 CHRISTIAN LOVE. 



Desire above duty. " Rabboni." 

of persons who ought to be united in spirit, knit in 
judgment, earnest in defence of each other, considerate 
in every pronunciation, fraternally sincere and true, 
Christians are the ones who compose it. Love links 
them together, and renders their lot common. 

Let us begin with the remark here that love is the 
essential principle of all genuine religion. For piety 
consists in desire^ rather than in duty. We love God be- 
cause he first loved us. This is why every chapter in 
the New Testament talks so much about the hearts of 
men. The heart was the old symbol of affection, and 
the gospel was meant to be a scheme of faith whose 
home should be located in the w T armest and most vital 
centre of our being. 

When the poor woman found her unostentatious way 
to the very couch of our Lord, as he sat at meat, and 
began to wash his feet with her tears and wipe them 
with the hairs of her head, the highest encomium which 
could be pronounced on her in the presence of the 
proud Simon was this : " Her sins, which are many, are 
forgiven, for she loved much." This affection, which 
Christians feel, is in every case called forth into its 
strength by the manifested affection of the Redeemer. 
He says to each child of his, with inexpressible tender- 
ness, " Mary," and the name he uses announces his feel- 
ing. The only answer, therefore, which is befitting, is 
always the same, " Rabboni." The vast difference be- 
tween our love and his is, that we find him the one alto- 
gether lovely, and so we love him the moment we truly 



CHRISTIAN LOVE. 2J 

The great test. Little ministries. 

see him ; but he loves us as we are, and by his very un- 
merited affection renders us lovely. 

Here, then, is a test for universal use in self-examina- 
tion. It is love that makes the Christian. It is not 
talent; for Paul says: " Though I speak with the 
tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I 
am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal." 
It is not gifts ; for Paul says : " And though I have the 
gift of prophecy, and understand ail mysteries, and all 
knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so that I could 
remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing." 
It is not merit ; for Paul says : " And though I bestow 
all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my 
body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me 
nothing." It is simply love, and in the grow T th of love 
is found our progress. 

No matter how frequently one fasts ; no matter how 
faithfully one pays tithes for the poor ; no matter how 
many nor how long may be one's prayers ; no matter 
how musical the song one may sing ; is the love of God 
shed abroad in one's heart ? — that is the question. 
"Love is the fulfilling of the law." God has always 
honored simple affection more than great gifts. The 
work of this world is often done by the most inconspic- 
uous people. The little ministries of every-day life, 
sometimes more than the showy exploits of unusual 
effort, are what seem to have called from the Master 
the most hearty approval, and received the rewards of 
grandest success. 



28 CHRISTIAN LOVE. 



Equal exposures. Spiritual rehearsals. 

Hence we may observe, in the second place, that love 
is the principle of all genuine social life. " If God so 
loves us, we ought also to love one another." Christians 
profess to have a mutual likeness to the one Saviour of 
all. They are the children of one Father's household. 
They claim a sovereign interest in the common salva- 
tion. Hence, they must love each other as kindred. 

Moreover, they are under equal exposures. The world 
drives up against them on the outside. They have perils 
from the same direction. A harsh censure, which falls 
on one to-day, it may be another's lot to have to bear 
to-morrow. Biting criticisms that for one sharp hour 
light on you, are just as likely to come and sting me 
the next. It would be wise to organize for mutual 
defence. 

Then again : we all have the same work — a work 
which will be certain to render one unwelcome and 
unpopular in proportion to the faithfulness which he 
bestows upon it. If we sit down together on some rest- 
ful evening, we shall find that the rehearsals of our 
religious histories will be pretty much the same. Our 
falls into alarming temptation may have their personal 
peculiarities, and bear the image of our temperaments 
and education ; but we all have had falls. One has 
been in doubt over a certain action.; the other has been 
clear ; but now, to be frank about it, the other has had 
his perplexity upon a different point. It is time we 
comforted each 'other with a comparison of tasks and of 
patience under them. 



CHRISTIAN LOVE. 29 

What charity is. Three readings. 

Bring together thus a company of those of like char- 
acter, of similar exposures, and with the same work to 
do, and it becomes absolutely necessary that some sort 
of principle of association, by which intercourse may 
be facilitated, should be established among them. 
" Behold how good a thing it is for brethren to dwell 
together in unity ! " Here comes in the chapter we 
have been quoting. Paul, as if in despair of making 
final impression by a mere statement, introduces a de- 
tailed description of the grace he is commending. He 
tells us what charity is by saying what it will do : 
"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth 
not ; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth 
not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is 
not easily provoked, thinketh no evil ; rejoiceth not 
in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth ; beareth all 
things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endur- 
eth all things." 

Now if I were teaching a class the lessons of this 
chapter, I would have these verses read over aloud 
three times by the three best scholars I had, with a 
new substitution of a word in each instance. I would 
put in the word "gentleman" first, and see how it 
would sound to say, "A gentleman suffereth long and 
is kind : beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth 
all things, endureth all things." Or, perhaps, "A lady 
doth not behave herself unseemly, seeketh not her 
own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil." Thus 
I judge I could make young people understand that 



30 CHRISTIAN LOVE. 



Good breeding. The model Master. 

in genuine Christian behavior is found the highest 
politeness. 

Then next I would introduce the word thus: "A 
Christian rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in 
the truth." Or thus: "A Christian envieth not; a 
Christian vaunteth not himself, is not puffed up." 
For in this way I should hope I might show every 
one what a far reach true piety has ; how it covers 
all the ordinary courtesies of life, and pushes out into 
endeavors of kindness toward every soul that is in 
trouble. 

But, chief of all, it would give me real delight to 
hear one reading aloud the whole passage with the 
word "Christ" in it in the place of "charity;" for 
thus would come to light the grand lesson, that in 
Jesus, our divine Lord, is found the highest embodi- 
ment of grace and glory. What a commentary the 
whole New Testament furnishes on these words : 
" Christ suffered long and was kind; Christ envied 
not ; Christ vaunted not himself, was not puffed up ; 
Christ bore all things, believed all things, hoped all 
things, endured all things ! " He who is the Master 
was also the Model. 

Move forward now for a third observation. Love is 
the principle of all eminent zeal. Those who are in 
earnest for doing good are the likeliest to be safe 
from doing evil. There is instruction in the story a 
Persian writer tells of himself. " Having once in my 
youth," says he, "notions of severe piety, I used to 



CHRISTIAN LOVE. 3 I 



A Persian story. Leander. 

rise in the night to pray and read the Koran. And 
on one occasion, as I was engaged in these exercises, 
my father, a man of practical religion and of eminent 
virtue, awoke while I was studying aloud. I said to 
him, ' Behold, thy other children are lost in slumber, 
but I alone wake to praise God/ And he answered, 
'Son of my soul, it is better to sleep than to wake to 
remark the faults of brethren.' " 

Outside work is the best relief for dyspeptic carping. 
But there is no comfort in work where there is not love 
as the motive of it. God loved the w r orld ; Christ loved 
the souls he died to redeem ; Christians are moved by 
love for those around them ; or else the w T ork is drudg- 
ery, and can never claim blessing. 

What w r ill not love do and dare? With only an 
earthly object Love swam the Hellespont, and gave 
a name to every Hero who holds out a torch. With 
no more than filial strength, it sent Coriolanus back 
from treason at the gates, and delivered Rome from 
downfall. Once having place in the heart of a Chris- 
tian, it rouses him to energy almost superhuman. "I 
would think it greater happiness," said Matthew Henry, 
"to. gain one soul to Christ, than mountains of gold 
and silver to myself: if I do not gain souls, I shall 
enjoy all other gains with very little satisfaction : and 
I would rather beg my bread from door to door than 
neglect this great work." 

Love seems actually inexhaustible, while other graces 
change. This is the reason why the apostle com- 



32 CHRISTIAN LOVE. 



Summerfield. John Knox. 

mends it the most : " Charity never faileth ; but whe- 
ther there be prophecies, they shall fail ; whether there 
be tongues, they shall cease ; whether there be know- 
ledge, it shall vanish away." Instances have been 
known in which this passionate love for souls has 
worn out the strength of the heart in which it dwelt, 
without seeming to lessen in its volume. Some of 
us whose early home was among the forests remem- 
ber how the choppers used to take coals out of one 
brush-heap to light another ; they would place them 
all alive upon a thick wisp of straw, and then rush 
through the air with the smoke and flame streaming 
behind them ; but the straw would burn as they ran, 
and, when the coals dropped on the rubbish, would 
burst into a flash and consume itself with its burden. 
That was Montgomery's figure by which he sought 
to describe Summerfield ; he said he carried the blaze 
which kindled others, and that burned himself to 
ashes. His charity never failed till himself vanished 
away. 

This zeal, the principle of which is love, is very cou- 
rageous. It forgets itself ; it grows humble as it grows 
strong. It becomes all things to all men, in the hope it 
may save some ; and it is all the more upright when it 
bends. Queen Mary burst into tears of the bitterest 
vexation and grief, when John Knox told her of duty 
and rebuked her for sin. And the stubborn old 
Scotchman wept as profusely as she did, while he 
uttered those memorable words: " Madam, in God's 



CHRISTIAN LOVE. 33 

« — — — —^——— _—_—___ 

Whitefield. The heart lives forever. 

presence I speak : I never delighted in the weeping 
of any of God's creatures : yea, I can hardly abide 
the tears of my own boys when my hands correct 
them : much less then can I rejoice in your Majesty's 
weeping : but seeing I have offered unto you no just 
occasion to be offended, I must sustain these tears, 
rather than I dare hurt my conscience or betray the 
commonwealth by silence." 

But then, how gentle this love is also ! Love is never 
noisy, never violent, when it seeks to win its w T ay. This 
is the only natural force that works by tenderness. It 
made Paul weep, it filled the eyes of Jesus with tears. 
Yet there is no effeminacy in it. John, who spoke most 
about it, was one whom they called Boanerges, because 
he was a " son of thunder." Such love is effective when 
everything else would fail. *"I came to break your 
head," once said a rough man to Whitefield, with a big 
stone in hand; "but by the grace of God you have 
broken my heart." 

And so at the last let us observe that love is the prin- 
ciple of heavenly enjoyment. " Your heart shall live 
forever." This wonderful charity issues in a complete- 
ness at the limit of life, that the life itself which it ten- 
anted never knew, nor even suspected : " For we know 
in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which 
is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be 
done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I 
understood as a child, I thought as a child : but when I 
became a man, I put away childish things." 



34 CHRISTIAN LOVE, 



The new life. Plato's cave. 

" Nothing resting in its own completeness 

Can have power or beauty ; but alone 
Because it leads or tends to further sweetness, 

Fuller, higher, deeper, than its own. 
Life is only brighter when it proceedeth 

Toward a truer, deeper life above ; 
Human love is sweetest when it leadeth 

To a more divine and perfect love." 

What that other existence out before us will be, we 
are not fully told. But love will certainly reign in 
heaven where God is, for God is love. Old friends will 
be reached again. The parted and the pure will find 
each other once more. The chief characteristic of that 
life would seem to be its permanency. The Scripture 
takes greatest pains to show us that in this dazzling, 
fading, illusive universe Inhere is, after all, one thing 
which shall stand in the wreck of matter and the crush 
of worlds. " The world passe th away, and the lust 
thereof ; but he that doeth the will of God shall abide 
forever." A will subdued to a will that is divine is per- 
emptorily, authoritatively, declared to be imperishable. 

But our disclosures are as yet withheld, and our vi- 
sions are quite imperfect. It was the conception of an 
ancient philosopher that the human soul was standing, 
as it were, in the recesses of a vast cavern, and gained 
all its knowledge of the future state by a careful study 
of the weird figures from without which traced them- 
selves along on the dimly-lit inner walls. Let us accept 
the image for a moment. The Christian believer seems 



CHRISTIAN LOVE. 35 

The final vision. Love is all. 

now to be waiting as if within a hollow cave, girt by 
the rock on every side. Often through the narrow fis- 
sure which faith has found, come struggling in a few 
faint rays of illumination, that only half reveal the mys- 
teries of his hard and cheerless home ; and now and 
then there is a gleam of a shadowed picture on the 
stones around him which indicates the existence and 
shows the beauty of the magnificent realities without. 
Beyond the stony barriers he can hear the rush and roll 
of a spiritual life, of which he learns too little to satisfy 
his yearning. He longs for the rock-rent through which 
he knows he is one day to pass. He is a child ; but the 
time will come when he shall put away childish things, 
and be forever a man. 

At last the hour arrives. He hears beforehand, and 
perhaps trembles as he hears, the groanings and rum- 
blings of the final convulsion. The earth quakes, the 
ground is opened, the walls divide, the prison is dis- 
solved, and the soul is free. And oh ! what a sight is 
that which now bursts upon his vision ! "Blessed are 
the pure in heart, for they shall see God." "Beloved, 
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear 
what we shall be ; but we know that when he shall ap- 
pear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he 
is." "For now w r e see through a glass, darkly ; but 
then face to face ; now I know in part ; but then shall I 
know even as also I am known." 

Thus, then, the end of our exposition is reached. 
When we understand that love is the principle of all 



36 CHRISTIAN LOVE. 



The secret of order. The drowning man. 

genuine personal religion, the principle of all genuine 
social life, the principle of all genuine and eminent zeal, 
and the principle of all hoped-for heavenly enjoyment, 
then we are ready to accept the strong statement of the 
apostle with which he closes the chapter: "And now 
abideth faith, hope, charity, these three : but the great- 
est of these is charity." 

For here is the secret of all composure in the uni- 
verse. " I am going," said the dying Hooker, " to leave 
a world disordered and a church disorganized, for a 
world and a church where every angel and every rank 
of angels stand before the throne in the very post God 
has assigned." 

And here is the secret of all success in the winning of 
souls. A man had broken through the ice, and was 
drowning in the Merrimac River. The neighbors 
sought to save him with a plank thrust out over the 
edge. Twice he caught it and slipped back in the 
stream. Then he had just strength to say, "Oh, for 
heaven's sake, give me the wood-end of the plank ! " 
They pulled it in, and found that the end they offered 
was round and chill with ice. They changed it ; and 
then his numb fingers clasped the friendly board, and 
he was saved. Ah, me ! we must, in saving souls, pre- 
sent something besides the ice-end of a mere conven- 
tional piety ! 



IV. 

VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

SO WHEN THIS CORRUPTIBLE SHALL HAVE PUT ON INCORRUPTION, 
AND THIS MORTAL SHALL HAVE PUT ON IMMORTALITY, THEN 
SHALL BE BROUGHT TO PASS THE SAYING THAT IS WRITTEN, 

Death is swallowed up in victory.— i Corinthians 15 : 54. 

Virgil tells us that when the pious iEneas visited his 
father, Anchises, in the Elysian Fields, and had to cross 
the Styx at fabled Charon's Ferry, the frail boat, accus- 
tomed to carry only the tenuous forms of departed spir- 
its, now receiving the heavy figure of a living man, 
writhed and creaked through all its sewed seams. 

This was only a poet's conception, according to his 
light, of what the apostle gives us under inspiration, 
concerning the relations of the future life to the gross- 
ness of this : "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and 
blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God ; neither doth 
corruption inherit incorruption." 

We feel confident that no corporeal substance has 
place in a purely spiritual state. Yet what a purely 
spiritual state is really, it would be impossible for us 
to tell. It may be well to remember that death in- 
fluences our human lot only as an intellectual notion. 
There is nothing in it which strikes back upon the 
fibre and substance of our existence. It is not like a 



38 VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

Death a mere idea. The " sting." 

blot of ink fallen in an open book, that it should stain 
the previous pages closed carelessly upon it ; it bears 
on the future alone. If we could and would keep it 
out of mind, it would not render us unhappy. The 
animals all around us die, just as we do ; but they 
give no evidence of being affected by the melancholy 
prospect. ' 

A lamb goes dumb to the slaughter, because it has 
no sense of apprehension. It is our idea of death which 
brings us our horror. The imagination invests it with 
its dreadful gloom. 

Hence the Scriptures attack the idea ; they do not 
appear to try to disturb or rearrange the facts. The 
endeavor of the apostle's argument, in the epistle to 
the Corinthians, is directed toward the removal of 
an emotional feeling which he calls the sting of death. 
So he advances bravely to meet the issue, challeng- 
ing a sharp attention by the admission that there is 
a fearful something, standing at the extreme limit of 
human life, which needs explaining: " Behold, I show 
you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall 
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an 
eye, at the last trump : for the trumpet shall sound, 
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we 
shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on 
lncorruption, and this mortal must put on immortal- 
ity." 

The parallel to this passage is found in the epistle to 
the Thessalonians, some expressions in which need al- 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 39 

Three things. Final agonies. 

ways to be laid alongside of it. Indeed, the popular 
mistake, that makes us shudder at this "mystery," is 
better indicated in the verse : " But I would not have 
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which 
are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which 
have no hope." 

Here are three things : ignorance, sorrow, hopeless- 
ness ; it would be impossible to find stronger terms by 
Which to outline the universal thought, which Paul 
deprecates so earnestly. 

"I would not have you to be ignorant" The moment 
that a simple want of information limits our progress, 
our imaginations begin to fashion for themselves and 
construct a future — just as ostriches run along the 
beaten road until they reach a ravine mist-covered, 
then they set out to fly among the clouds. 

There is in the picture which ignorance draws a sense 
of ineffable loneliness. One spot there is now on the 
earth somewhere, waiting for us ; one pathetic little 
reach of land, six feet by two, which is to grow sol- 
emn with the charge of our dust lying in it in expec- 
tation of the final judgment. "There are no bands 
in their death." One moment there is drawing nearer 
on the 'dial, which is to be awful with the weight of 
our solitary experience, when it is to bear away the 
last breath from our nostrils. 

Then there is in the picture an appalling terror as to 
final agonies — an inexplicable alarm concerning what 
may be the experiences of the change we must meet. 



40 VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

Dr. Johnson. Ignorance proves nothing. 

Of the old moralist, Dr. Johnson, his biographer tells 
ns he was all his life in bondage, through fear of death. 
"His intellect resembled a vast amphitheatre; in the 
centre stood his judgment combating, like a mighty 
gladiator, those apprehensions, which, like the beasts 
of the arena, were all around him in the cells, ready 
to be let out any moment. After a conflict, he would 
sometimes drive them back into their dens : but not 
being able to kill them, he was ever and anon as- 
sailed again." Thus we all live, tortured by our ter- 
rors. 

There is also in this picture a dread of disclosures 
beyond. The ship departs ; that is bad enough — but, 
oh ! where is it going to ? When will it touch shore 
again ? Providences are intricate ; they do clear, how- 
ever : the path winds more than ever here — alas ! where 
does its untrodden length lead ? So we repeat Job's 
words : "Are not my days few? cease then, and let me 
alone, that I may take comfort a little, before I go 
whence I shall not return, even to the land of dark- 
ness, and the shadow of death ; a land of darkness, as 
darkness itself; and of the shadow of death, without 
any order, and where the light is as darkness." 

Now, Lord Bacon has somewhere said that "true 
fortitude consists in not letting what we do know be 
disturbed by what we do not know." And he speaks 
wisely ; for that is the precise thing which poor hu- 
man nature finds most difficult to accomplish. Igno- 
rance proves nothing ; but our outlook is full of name- 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 41 

Fable of the fagots. Roman epithets. 



less horrors, because we have nothing else to fill it with 
— outside of the Bible. 

Next to this comes grief : " That ye sorrow not," adds 
the apostle. Men even in deepest distress cannot be 
made to see Death as a friend. In the old fable we used 
to read at school, the aged woodman fairly grew desper- 
ate as he cast his load of fagots from his sore shoulders : 
" Sitting down, he prayed for Death to come to his re- 
lief." Suddenly Death did come, and inquired what he 
needed. " Nothing," answered the frightened creature, 
bustling up on his feet ; " nothing, only to have some 
one help to put my bundle once more on my shoulder ! " 

There is in this sorrow a sense of bereavement ; we 
must go away from those we love. The Romans had 
thirty epithets for death ; and all of them were full of 
deepest dejection. " The iron slumber," " the eternal 
night," "the mower with his scythe," "the hunter with 
his snares," "the demon bearing cup of poison," "the 
merciless destroying angel," " the inexorable jailer with 
keys," "the king of terrors treading down empires," 
— some of them were these, the bitterness of which is 
indescribable. 

Then there is a sense of laceration. We must tear 
ourselves away from the hills and the homes that know 
us. The more we have cared for the world, the more it 
keeps its hold upon us. There is a sort of injured feel- 
ing rankling in our hearts, as if somebody had cheated 
us out of a right, or deceived us in a prospect. 

Worst of all, there is in this sorrow a sense of failure. 



42 VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

Hezekiah. Socrates' sacrifice. 

A consciousness of unfinished work, of incomplete ac- 
complishment, is filling us with dissatisfaction. It hap- 
pens that we have this all written out for our inspection 
under inspiration in one notable instance ; it is worth 
reading over as a revelation of human nature. " The 
writing of Hezekiah, king of Judah, when he had been 
sick, and was recovered of his sickness : I said, in the 
cutting off of my days, I shall go to the gates of the 
grave ; I am deprived of the residue of my years. I 
said, I shall not see the Lord, even the Lord, in the land 
of the living : I shall behold man no more with the in- 
habitants of the world. Mine age is departed, and is 
removed from me as a shepherd's tent ; I have cut off 
like a weaver my life ; he will cut me off with pining 
sickness ; from day even to night wilt thou make an 
end of me. I reckoned till morning, that as a lion, so 
will he break all my bones ; from day even to night wilt 
thou make an end of me." 

The third element of popular experience which the 
apostle indicates is despair : " I would not have you as 
others which have no hope." Here now enters the work- 
ing of conscience. At this point there is apparent a 
notion of guilt : " The sting of death is sin ; and the 
strength of sin is the law." 

Hence, this hopelessness includes a sense of ill-desert. 
No man is free from it. Even wise old Socrates sacri- 
ficed a cock for an offering before he dared to die ; and 
he was what we call a sage ! Scientific men keep open- 
ing ancient tombs nowadays ; and it is astonishing what 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 43 

Inexorablenes*. Hobbcs' confession. 

treasures they find — gifts all packed up for the departed 
creature to make his way on with when he should get 
into immortal necessities of explanation and apology for 
a misspent life. 

There is also a sense of inexorable justice. Something 
mysteriously forces the conviction on the minds of us 
all, that there is one court in this universe where deci- 
sions are rendered in accordance with facts and princi- 
ples of law. We clap our hands when we hear a popu- 
lar poet sing out energetically, " Thank God, man is 
not to be judged by man ! " But that implies that he is 
to be judged by God ; and such a conclusion brings to 
most men an uneasiness. Solemn moment is that in 
which any soul reaches the full consciousness of ap- 
proaching arraignment before the bar of Jehovah ! 

There is in this hopelessness also a sense of risk. It 
will interject itself into all our computations, this 
thought of something left unarranged at death. I can- 
not get myself ready. I am not master of the position 
enough to know what to do more. There are perad- 
ventures on ahead in that darkness that it is useless for 
me to try to meet. I must just take my chances as I 
am. The last words of one of the most courageous of all 
the famous infidels that have been watched as they died, 
were, " It is a leap in the dark ! " 

This, then, is the popular and necessary conception 
of death, up to that last great moment when the revela- 
tion which the New Testament furnishes breaks like 
beautiful sunshine through the unutterable gloom. Our 



44 VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

Jesus to Martha. The victory. 

Lord Jesus came to bring life and immortality to light 
in the gospel. So the trustful believer is taught to sing, 
while his heart is swayed by the hopes of another life in 
view : 

" In death, peace gently veils the eyes; 
Christ rose, and I shall surely rise." 

That is to say, into this confused and melancholy state 
of things Christianity enters with a direct challenge and 
absolute contradiction of reversal. To real mourners 
there is only left a single comfort that will prove satis- 
factory. We may reason and argue, but all in vain. No 
assurance about its being better for the friends we have 
lost to be where they are : no chilly philosophy as to 
manly fortitude or womanly endurance : no professions 
of sincere sympathy counseling courage — nothing is 
sufficient for our terrible bereavements, except the calm 
declaration : " Thy brother shall rise again." We insist 
upon the certainty that some time we must be reunited 
to the hearts we regret and remember with our tears. 

Just there the Scripture meets us positively : " For if 
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them 
also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him." 
We cannot take away death, but we can take the sting 
out of death. We must enter the conflict with the last 
enemy : " But thanks be to God, which giveth us the 
victory, through our Lord Jesus Christ." At last there 
comes something authoritative. The moment we read 
a verse of inspiration like these we are studying, we feel 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 45 

A meteoric stone. The cemetery. 

as we do when w T e see a great meteoric stone — we say 
this is a piece of another planet. Just mark these open- 
ing words of the apostle : " For this we say unto you by 
the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and re- 
main unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent 
them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall de- 
scend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the 
archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first : then we which are alive and re- 
main shall be caught up together with them in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we 
ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another 
with these words.'* 

So much, then, " by the word of the Lord." How this 
covers at once all the particulars w T e have mentioned ! 
This lonely spot away in a damp graveyard that makes 
us shudder — why, it is only a cemetery, after all ; and a 
cemetery is a sleeping-place. We shall remain in it only 
until sunrise. Then, too, this sense of failure in life ; 
Paul says there is no mistake or loss : " Therefore, my 
beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always 
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye 
know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." No 
labor can be in vain which has God's glory for its end. 
So of the nameless and indescribable fears that make us 
tremble ; this revelation of divine love simply takes a 
lamp and bears it into the mysterious shadow r s ahead of 
us, as a mother goes on before into a bedroom which 
her timid child had been filling with weird horrors. Oh, 



46 VICTORY OVER DEATH. 

A mother's lamp. Ships coming in. 

how exquisite is that description of the New Jerusalem, 
which calls it " the mother of us all ! " 

The sense of bereavement is banished in the same 
way. It is the departed who are safe. Those we think 
we once lost are the very ones we have most securely. 
The sense of despair yields to the blessed certainty of 
hope. We shall find our old friends in heaven ; we shall 
know them when we see them. The new life will be 
occupied partly in " knitting severed friendships up." 
And as for that awful dread of divine justice, it will be 
displaced by a wonderful peace ; for we can rest im- 
plicitly in God's justice when Jesus the Saviour stands 
by, with the sure pardon in his hands ! 

It is according to one's hearty confidence in receiving 
this information that he will look forward toward the 
inevitable crisis. I sometimes think that people will 
enter heaven as the miscellaneous vessels enter New 
York Bay through the Narrows. Some will actually 
have to be tugged in by the violent faith and prayer of 
others, who will be at hand to help their feebleness as 
Christiana helped Ready-to-halt. Some will come in 
slowly and undecidedly, as if they dared to put up only 
a sail or two, and the wind was uncertain. But there 
will be many proud, glad ships, with all their spars cov- 
ered with white canvas. To them will be " an entrance 
ministered abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of 
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." 

Very beautiful, therefore, rises this picture of the 
apostle upon our spiritual vision, and very inspiriting is 



VICTORY OVER DEATH. 47 

Song of triumph. "In the morning." 

the song which floats through the air as we look at it : 
" So when this corruptible shall have put on incorrup- 
tion, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then 
shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death 
is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting ? 
O grave, where is thy victory ? " 

" The night is far spent ; the day is at hand." We 
ha^ve as yet some few confusions, for the twilight shad- 
ows are hanging heavily over us ; but it will all be right 
in the morning : — 

" Thus all through the world, by ship or by shore, 

Where the mother bends over the cradle, 
The tenant of which has just gone on before — 

Where the lonely tread on in the ashes of woe — 
Where the brave fight their foes and their fears — 

Where the funeral winds, or the dirge murmurs low, — 
Where the eyes of the lover, through dimness and tears, 

Look aloft for the loved — oh, whatever the word, 
A welcome, a wail, or a warning, 

This is everywhere cherished, this everywhere heard — 
4 // will all be right in the morning ! ' " 



V. 
AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 

NOW THEN WE ARE AMBASSADORS FOR CHRIST, AS THOUGH GOD 
DID BESEECH YOU BY US '. WE PRAY YOU IN CHRIST'S STEAD, 

BE ye reconciled TO God. — 2 Corinthians 5 : 20. 

A single incident of the visit of Mr. Moody to New- 
York came to my knowledge at the time. I give it in 
substance as related to me by one of the parties men- 
tioned in it ; I think it is quite true. 

It seems that a gentleman, accustomed to attend the 
great assemblies at the Hippodrome, had invited one of 
his business associates to go with him to the meeting, 
and hear the evangelist speak. After the service was 
over, on the way home, he inquired of him how he 
liked the sermon. The answer w T as all he could have 
wished. 

" I believe," said the man, with his manner full of un- 
mistakable enthusiasm, "that, if the regular ministers 
would preach as that Moody does, they would have 
half the town running after them ! It is grand to lis- 
ten to the voice of such a representative of the peo- 
ple, no matter if he is ignorant and uneducated. But 
in the churches, the big scholars get up, and they are 
so stiff and so starched and so cold that there is no 
use in going to hear them." 



AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 49 

Hippodrome meetings. Mistaken identity. 

Surprised at such an amount of information concern- 
ing the habits of metropolitan clergymen on the part of 
one who, as he supposed, rarely saw any one of them to 
know him, my informant inquired calmly, " Where do 
you usually attend church ? " And the reply came as 
he expected, "Oh, I am one of the outsiders, as you 
call them ; I have not been in a pew for many a year." 
But then he went on to say that he respected religion, 
and all that ; he rented a sitting for his wife in the 
church on the corner of — — Street and — — Place. 
"But, why do you never go with her?" persisted his 
friend. " Because, as I said, they are all so prosy 
and stiff ; if I knew a minister in this town who could 
preach a sermon like that we heard just now, I would 
go five miles every Sunday to listen to him ! " 

More amused than amazed, his companion turned on 
him with a single quiet remark : "Well, then, you had 
better try it next Sunday ; for Mr. Moody was away 
to-day, and the man you heard in the Hippodrome 

was your wife's pastor, Rev. Dr. B , of the church 

on the corner of Street and Place." 

I. Let us consider, in the first place, one special 
phase of popular sentiment, plainly observable at the 
present day, and which, we are all agreed, deserves a 
somewhat thoughtful notice. 

There is a clamor in the street for more "gospel" 
work among the "masses" of people hitherto quite 
imperfectly reached by usual forms of Christian zeal. 
This is right : no one can doubt it. A sad record has 



50 AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 

Reaching the " masses." Criticisms on the clergy. 

been written on God's book against all the churches 
for many a year. Then it is added that extraordinary 
methods must be employed, of a more popular char- 
acter, in order to interest the homeless multitudes, 
the wild, the vicious, and the poor. Most likely this 
is right too : Christians ought to be all things to all 
men, in the hope to save some. And then there is 
heard around us a serious arraignment of ministers as 
a class, for what is deemed the ill-adaptation of their 
measures ; the stiff, stately, scholarly system of ser- 
monizing, inappropriate and unattractive and unsuc- 
cessful. Well : it is not worth while here to deny 
this either. I presume most preachers feel somewhat 
demoralized, when they have to own that few have 
believed their report, and few are found to whom the 
arm of the Lord has been revealed savingly. 

But now comes the suggestion of a remedy. And at 
this proposal one may be pardoned if he experiences 
a measure of consternation. It is claimed that the 
preachers must come forth from among the people, 
and must be of the people. Hence education has 
not so much to do with winning souls as sympathy; 
less heads and more hearts are the demand of this 
age. Scholarship renders men too refined for rough 
work. Then, too, denominationalism gets badly in 
the way. And, not to put too fine a point upon it, it 
has come to be better to have lay-preachers rather than 
ordained. 

It is curious to notice how spiritual epidemics become 



AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 5 1 

Spiritual epidemics. The ministerial office. 

prevalent, at times, just like diseases. Only a few years 
ago, the great cry was raised against cherishing an in- 
spired authoritative volume as being only a superstition. 
The taunt was flung widely over most of Christendom, 
that it was weak and unscholarly to believe such a be- 
ing as God would issue a printed gospel : would you 
put confidence in a book-revelation ? This talk was 
leading unthinking individuals here and there quite as- 
tray. It became necessary that it should be taken up. 
The pulpits everywhere accepted the challenge. Men 
clung to their Bibles, and frankly told their reason for 
so doing. God gave them the Book. Whether some 
would think he would or not, he did — and that was the 
end of debate. There were champions who did such 
valiant service in those days that a scriptural literature 
was created, of inestimable value. And in our times, 
nobody raises that question. But after fifteen years, 
a new agitation has arisen ; and now we have to be- 
gin at the beginning, and construct an argument for the 
existence of an organic official ministry in the church 
of Christ — a thing which the church never has been 
without in eighteen centuries of life ! 

II. We need not lose any time. Let us now, in the 
second place, move right on into the midst of the sub- 
ject. What are to be understood as the foundations 
upon which rests the office of an ordained ministry in 
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ ? 

The answer to this question is really so prosaic and 
commonplace that one may possibly be surprised to 



52 AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 

The argument. The original promise. 

hear it. Nothing of human wisdom or adroit reasoning 
is demanded at all. Nothing ingenious or novel can be 
of even the least service in such an inquiry. The in- 
spired word declares : "For after that, in the wisdom 
of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased 
God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that 
believe." The sovereign will of almighty God himself 
established an ordained ministry as the one instrumen- 
tality by which the gospel might be proclaimed among 
men. The preachers office, therefore, is of divine and 
inalienable right. This it is our duty to assert again 
and again, whether men will hear or forbear. The 
young Titus was told that he must duly urge the doc- 
trine : " These things speak, and exhort ; and rebuke 
with all authority. Let no man despise thee." 

There was an original promise made to God's people, 
and put on the eternal record: "And I will give you 
pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you 
with knowledge and understanding. " Has that engage- 
ment ever been fulfilled ? Hear the word again : " And 
he gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; and some, 
evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers ; for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, 
for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come 
in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the 
Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of 
the stature of the fulness of Christ." 

Let us come away for a moment from simple citation 
of texts. It happens that this whole matter lies before 



AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 53 

Isaiah's vision. Government service. 

us in an exquisite picture, Isaiah's vision of the Lord 
throned in the temple. The majestic form of Jehovah 
is suddenly withdrawn out of sight, and the kneeling 
man hears a voice : " Whom shall I send, and who will 
go for us ? " Surely, we understand that this figurative 
representation is of our Maker considering what agency 
will be the fittest for him to make use of in spreading 
his messages of reconciliation through the whole world. 
One would shrink from so daring a conception, even in 
rhetoric, if it were his own ; but here it is in the Bible, 
and it is singularly picturesque and graphic. 

It is generally easy enough to find men who are 
willing to undertake government service. Not often 
does an office go a-begging. And the more august and 
powerful the empire, the likelier it would be to find 
ready agents. Foreign ministers throng most ante- 
chambers at the slightest call. Christ's ministers of 
higher class seem to come reluctantly and offer them- 
selves not often. Really, it appears a little singular to 
note here that God is represented as inquiring doubt- 
fully after somebody to be a prophet. 

This could not have been through any caprice : there 
is not the least suggestion of trifling in scenes so august 
and awful. Nor was the question a mere form, as if 
the king were keeping up a share in the dialogue of a 
pageant :o Isaiah treats it like a real demand, and an- 
swers it at a tremendous risk. Nor does it seem at 
all likely that it was asked in weakness or irresolu- 
tion : surely, the Lord of Heaven could choose his ser- 



54 AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 

Meaning of the question. Voluntary life-work. 

vants at his will. He cannot have inquired in igno- 
rance, either : he knew who was going to offer, and 
whom he was certain to accept in due time. 

There was a deep and wise purpose of grace in such 
a question. We shall miss the entire point of it if we 
fail to see that its aim was to draw an affectionate 
and voluntary proffer of life-service from that sub- 
dued man, just forgiven his sins under the atoning 
touch of the coal from the altar of sacrifice. We ex- 
pect that very answer which is recorded from the 
grateful Isaiah: " Here am I; send me." That is to 
say, the brilliant, picturesque teaching of an inspired 
spectacle like this is discovered in these two particu- 
lars : God deliberately chooses men for his special mes- 
sengers to all the world, and he secures the labor he 
wishes by inviting a voluntary consecration rather than 
by commanding obedience. 

Really, this is the entire argument for a fixed office 
of ordained ministers in the church of the living God. 
But is it not conclusive ? Is this not the sense of the 
passage which we are now studying in Paul's epistle 
to the Corinthians ? Let us read it over : " And all 
things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself 
by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of 
reconciliation ; to wit, that God was in Christ, recon- 
ciling the world unto himself, not imputing their tres- 
passes unto them ; and hath committed unto us the 
word of reconciliation. Now then we are ambassa- 
dors for Christ ; as though God did beseech you by 



AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 55 

44 Ambassadors for Christ." Must be " sent." 

us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to 
God." 

It only remains, therefore, to inquire concerning the 
perpetuation of the office by the churches themselves. 
A single passage of Scripture is all that is needed to 
set this matter at rest : " For whosoever shall call 
upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How 
then shall they call on him in whom they have not 
believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom 
they have not heard ? and how shall they hear with- 
out a preacher? And how shall they preach, except 
they be sent ? as it is written, How beautiful are the 
feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and 
bring glad tidings of good things ! " 

The cumulative argument in these verses moves on 
step by step. A broad announcement of the gospel's 
adaptation and entire sufficiency for all classes and 
conditions of men is given at the outset: "For who- 
soever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be 
saved." But here the apostle meets several serious 
difficulties lying in the way. To such he gives much 
rhetorical force by stating them in the form of a ques- 
tion : " How then shall they call on him in whom 
they have not believed ? " Prayer is necessary to sal- 
vation, and faith is necessary to prayer. So another 
perplexity confronts him: "How shall they believe in 
him of whom they have not heard ? " Prayer is ne- 
cessary to salvation ; faith is necessary to prayer ; 
knowledge is necessary to faith. So comes another 



56 AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 

The church must provide. What is ordination ? 

hindrance: " How shall they hear without a preach- 
er?" A man cannot know a new thing unless some- 
body tells him ; and if he does not know about Christ, 
he cannot believe in him ; and then if he does not be- 
lieve, he cannot pray for help, and so he will eventually 
be lost. Hence, there starts up this closing question : 
"How can they preach, except they be sent?" So 
Paul rounds his argument, clinching it with a text 
from Isaiah, in which the Old Testament lifts its voice 
joyously to give full confirmation to the New : " How 
beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him 
that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace ; 
that bringeth good tidings of good ; that publisheth 
salvation ; tha,t saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth ! " 

The bearing of all this is perfectly clear. The 
church is bound to raise up, to educate, to commis- 
sion, to ordain, and to support an official class of 
preachers, in order that God's plan shall be carried 
out for all nations and for all times. 

But what is ordination ? The ceremony of setting 
apart the ministers whom the Spirit of God invites 
and impresses into the work is, certainly in a truly 
Protestant church, exceedingly simple. In significa- 
tion, it is nothing but our public recognition of what 
we believe God has done beforehand in choosing the 
man. 

Our authority for the imposition of hands, with which 
the impressive ceremony is generally attended, is easily 
traced to the inspired Scriptures. One familiar verse is 



AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 57 

Imposition of hands. The present demand. 

enough to quote here : the young Timothy, just ordained 
and sent out to his work, finds among the weighty coun- 
sels of the apostle addressed to him one calculated to 
keep his office before him : " Neglect not the gift that 
is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the 
laying on of the hands of the presbytery." We do not 
profess to communicate anything, when we lay our 
hands upon a candidate's head. It is a mere gesture to 
show whom we intend to set apart to a professional call- 
ing as a preacher. Christ gives him all he has of heav- 
enly grace, not man, nor the church. 

It seems clear that there could be no question con- 
cerning this general doctrine of the ministry, which is 
as old as is the church itself, if our decisions were not 
complicated by some particular presentations of just 
our times. Evangelists, nowadays, demand that they 
shall be received and welcomed among the churches 
without ordination. They shall be permitted to preach, 
and even administer sacraments, independent of all set- 
ting apart to a fixed office. This is new. Nettleton, 
and Kirk, and Finney, were all regularly ordained 
clergymen. Audiences at large did not find any fault 
with their " cloth." We have had in our communities 
several of the best Christian workers the world ever 
knew — men whom we all alike honor and love — men 
whom God has wonderfully blessed as evangelists. 
They peril great interests when they demand that we 
shall accept them without ordination to the sacred office. 
They are the ones to make the issue. Some of us are 
3* 



58 AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 

Lay-preachers. " Gospel " mass-meetings. 

ready to join the issue with them. We assert that it is 
not safe or fair or scriptural to argue from their pros- 
perous career that ordination is prejudicial, or that lay- 
preachers would be better to man our missions. 

For we insist that it would be better all around if 
these noble coadjutors were ordained in the orderly 
way, as Barnabas and Timothy were in the primitive 
history when they began to preach. 

Nor should we be candid if we did not admit that we 
go even further. We do not believe that the mass-meet- 
ing system is the best for converting souls, and retain- 
ing those who are apparently gathered. Some of us 
distrust this whole plan of promiscuous assemblies in 
"gospel" services, with laymen giving "Bible-read- 
ings," as flinging reproach upon the churches. Is there 
no gospel anywhere but in them ? Is the Bible read 
anywhere else ? Will the man go and hear his wife's 
pastor once in his own pulpit, before he pronounces 
upon him in the Hippodrome ? 

Christ loved the church, and Christ established the 
church, and Christ gave himself for the church, which 
is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. 
When any association undertakes to compete with the 
church's organization as an instrument for saving, train- 
ing, educating, and retaining souls of men, a decent 
word ought to be spoken in warning against putting 
human wisdom in conflict with that which is inspired 
and divine. 

But are all the churches what they should be ? Oh, 



AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 59 

The churches fastidious. Halls are free. 

no ! no ! Some of our buildings are too fine and costly. 
Some of our services are too turgid and swollen with 
fashionable parade : on rare Sundays they are nothing 
but concerts with programmes. Some of us in the 
pulpit are dull and dry. Our sermons are scholarly 
and philosophical. Our machinery all around is too 
elegantly fitted to the taste of only fastidious people. 
We have too little sympathy for the poor and the 
humble. Oh, how pitiful are the confessions many 
of us are ready conscientiously and sorrowfully to 
make ! 

But the remedy is not found in calling the church 
Laodicean, and declaring that " the Lord has already 
spewed it out of his mouth." Perhaps, if our brethren 
will keep their confidence for a little while longer, there 
can be a change. Let us read over together one verse 
more, before we part company just now : " For unto us 
was the gospel preached, as well as unto them : but the 
word preached did not profit them, not being mixed 
with faith in them that heard it." 

Why are some of the churches thinly attended, while 
the public halls are filled ? Because Christians will 
generously pay for the rent of halls so as to make them 
free to everybody, while they decline to let poor people 
even sit in their church pews when unable to make up 
the rent. Is it because the gospel is not preached unto 
us as well as unto them ? Are we all ready to assert that 
the truth of God is presented in our Christian pulpits 
less intelligently than it is outside of them ? Less intel- 



6o AN ORDAINED MINISTRY. 

Is the gospel preached ? Not " mixed with faith." 

ligibly ? less faithfully ? less courageously ? less spirit- 
ually ? 

Why does not the word profit, then ? The verse says, 
because it is not " mixed with faith." Whose faith? 
The faith of " them that hear it." People have become 
used to the emotional excitement of a promiscuous 
throng singing "pull for the shore," until they say their 
own public meetings are dull and spiritless. They seem 
to have no expectation that good can be done in quiet 
ways in their old lecture-rooms. Some church-members 
lack faith in all ordinary means of grace. They seem 
to think nothing can be done by the established methods, 
or in the home localities. Another kind of sermons, 
another sort of hymn-books, another form of machinery, 
must be brought forward. They are not content to rest 
in quiet working. So the ways of Zion mourn. 

Let us have done with recrimination, and divide the 
sorrow and shame, if such there be, while we begin once 
more to believe in the profitableness of God's plan. Is 
it too much to ask that some affectionate and honest 
words of deprecation may be heard, just for once ? 
Less seeking of novelties, and more trust in the means 
we have, might, perhaps, bring in an increase of good. 



VI. 

THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 

Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to 

STAND AGAINST THE WILES OF THE DEVIL. — EphesiatlS 6: II. 

It might be conjectured that one, who for a long time 
was accustomed to wear a chain binding his wrist to the 
wrist of a soldier of the Roman army, and so was kept 
in the constant companionship and observation of a man 
in full military dress — it might be conjectured that such 
an one, when fashioning a formal letter by an amanuen- 
sis, would become figurative on occasion, and introduce 
what he saw into what he wrote. So the peculiar vivid- 
ness of description, and the particularity of detail, which 
we meet in the famous passage of Paul's epistle to the 
Ephesians, would find easy explanation from his impris- 
onment. 

i. It begins with a call to arms — a ringing challenge 
to soldierly bearing and courageous exploit : " Finally, 
my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of 
his might. "' 

Religious life is sometimes called " peace in believ- 
ing." Christ bids souls to come unto him that they 
might find "rest." All this has a welcome and an in- 
telligible meaning. But surely that Christian will make 
a vast mistake who forces such comforting expressions 
3* 



62 THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 

A conquered peace. Thomas Campbell. 

as these into undue and strange employment. There 
is nowhere in this world any peace which has not been 
wrought out in stubborn conflict, which is not now the 
achievement of valiant service for the truth. The sol- 
diers of the cross do not enlist to go at once into the 
hospital, or sit around the door of a sutler's tent. 

Hence our Lord puts in his well-known and often- 
quoted warning to all those who start to follow him that 
they shall intelligently understand, and then deliberately 
decide, what to do : " What king, going to make war 
against another king, sitteth not down first, and consult- 
eth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him 
that cometh against him with twenty thousand ? Or 
else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth 
an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace. So 
likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all 
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." 

It is to be feared that too much stress is laid upon the 
emotional and experimental part of piety in this easy 
day of ours. Too many young princes go off into dan- 
gerous Zulu-land for curious inquiry or mere love of 
adventure. There was (so we are told) once an English 
poet, who took position in a lofty tower that he might 
see a real battle. He seems to have had great prosper- 
ity, for the world has not yet done praising his versified 
description of the rushing onset, the tumult, and the 
carnage, "by Iser rolling rapidly." Now nobody need 
hope to become acquainted with the solemn realities of 
life by merely gazing out upon it from a protected bel- 



THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 63 

Ignatius Loyola. Zechariah's vision. 

fry, as Campbell did on Hohenlinden field. We cannot 
make a poem out of it. There are awful certainties of 
exposure, and necessities of attack, which disdain figures 
and rhythms of mere music. And, moreover, we are 
combatants, not spectators ; we are in the onset, and the 
shock is at hand. " There is no discharge in that war." 

2. It is best to avoid all confusion at once, and ascer- 
tain who are our adversaries ; specially, who leads on 
the host. Here the apostle speaks clearly, if only peo- 
ple would listen : " Put on the whole armor of God, that 
ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. ,, 

"Two kingdoms," said Ignatius Loyola, " divide the 
world ; the kingdom of Immanuel, and the kingdom of 
Satan." This the whole Bible admits ; but nowhere can 
there be found even so much as one text which intimates 
that Christ and the devil are on equal terms. Satan is 
a created being ; he had a maker, and he now has a ruler. 
He wages at present only a permitted warfare for a lim- 
ited season. His onsets are well called " wiles," for he 
shuns open fields, and deals best in ambuscades and se- 
cret plots. " Satan himself is transformed into an angel 
of light." 

Next to that recorded picture in the opening of the 
Book of Job, perhaps the most graphic which we find in 
the Scriptures is that of the prophet Zechariah : "And 
he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the 
angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand 
to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord 
rebuke thee, O Satan ; even the Lord that hath chosen 



64 THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 

A court-martial. Our adversaries. 

Jerusalem rebuke thee : is not this a brand plucked out 
of the fire ? " Just as in a court-martial, two men appear 
in order to manage a suit after quick arrest of some de- 
relict subaltern, so here a poor accused being seems to 
be put on trial. A divine advocate — even Jesus Christ 
the righteous, the true historic angel of the Lord — labors 
to defend him ; while another, the accuser of his breth- 
ren, is allowed to hinder and interrupt, springing tech- 
nicalities in the way of progress, wresting the evidence, 
pleading false issues, suborning witnesses, tampering 
with testimony, mutilating records, disturbing the tribu- 
nal with vociferous objections, until the presiding judge 
will bear it no longer, but in true commiseration for 
the culprit bursts out, " The Lord rebuke thee, O 
Satan ! " 

It would seem as if the careful apostle had been 
afraid that his military language might be construed 
literally ; for he adds a word of warning, lest any one 
should suppose that the faith which Christ came to es- 
tablish should be propagated by force of arms : " For 
we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against 
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the 
darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in 
high places." And in another chapter he gives a hint 
from the opposite direction ; if our foes are spiritual, 
then our resistance is to be spiritual also : * The weapons 
of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through 
God, to the pulling down of strongholds ; casting down 
imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself 



THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 65 

The devil's angels. A man tempted. 

against the knowledge of God, and bringing into capti- 
vity every thought to the obedience of Christ." 

There is awful force in the expression, "the devil 
and his angels ; " for it shows us Satan is not alone in 
his w^ork. He is the prince fiend of a fiendish clan. I 
have somewhere seen a picture on which was repre* 
sented a human soul in its hour of conflict. It was 
as if the invisible world had for a moment been made 
visible by the rare skill of the artist. There, around 
the tried and anxious man, these emissaries of Satan 
were gathered. Dim, ethereal forms luridly shone out 
on every side. One might see the tempting offer of a 
crown over his head ; but he would have to examine 
quite closely before he could discover how each braided 
bar of gold in the diadem was twined in so as to con- 
ceal a lurking fiend in the folds. Then there was just 
visible a serpent with demoniac eyes coiled in the bot- 
tom of the goblet from which he was invited to drink. 
Foul whispers were plying either ear. There were 
baleful fires of lust in the glances of those who sought 
his companionship. A beautiful angel drew nigh ; but 
a skeleton of death could be traced beneath the white 
robes he had stolen. I cannot say it was a welcome 
picture ; but certainly there was a lesson in it. Among 
the noisy critics who gaily pronounced on its character- 
istics, I noticed there was one thoughtful man who 
turned aside and wept. Perhaps he knew what it 
meant. 

3. Is there no defence against all this ? Surely, every 



66 THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 

Military accoutrements. The Palace Beautiful. 

Christian remembers the armor which Paul catalogues 
in detail: " Wherefore take unto you the whole armor 
of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil 
day, and having done all, to stand. Stand, therefore, 
having your loins girt about with truth, and having on 
the breastplate of righteousness ; and your feet shod 
with the preparation of the gospel of peace ; and 
above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye 
shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. 
And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the 
Spirit, which is the word of God." 

So picturesque is this exhortation that one could al- 
most believe that Paul simply ran his eyes over the 
military man at his side, and told his amanuensis to 
spiritualize the articles of his equipment. For every 
one now knows that this whole list of shield and shoes, 
girdle and breastplate, helmet and sword, may be, in 
the old paintings, found upon the person of each sol- 
dier in the Roman legions. 

Most elderly people will remember the kindling of 
heroic ardor they had in their early days, when they 
contemplated Christian in the few illustrations of Pil- 
grim's Progress as he emerged from the Palace Beau- 
tiful. He had been shown into the armory at the be- 
ginning of his visit, and seen all the rare weapons of 
antiquity, from Shamgar's ox-goad to Jael's nail. But 
when he was to go on his journey again, the three 
discreet damsels clad him w T ith "all manner of furni- 
ture which their Lord had provided for pilgrims." 






THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 6j 

The fight with Apollyon. "All-prayer." 

Few readers will ever forget how different the brave 
man looked in the pictures after that. He had strug- 
gled up the Hill Difficulty in flowing robes which, to 
our critical eyes, seemed effeminate. But now he ap- 
peared in the road wearing the conspicuous head-piece 
of a warrior, almost as fierce as Greatheart himself in 
pursuit of the giants. Down into the Valley of Humil- 
iation he walked courageously for his historic fight with 
Apollyon. 

Concerning this panoply, before w T e leave John Bun- 
yan, perhaps it may be well to note three points which 
this prince of dreamers has plainly made. First, he 
calls us to observe that Christian, in all his splendid ac- 
coutrement, had been provided with no armor for his 
back, so that he felt it necessary, when the bellowing 
fiend drew near, "to venture and stand his ground," 
since to turn would give him greater advantage to 
pierce with darts. 

Then, in the enumeration of weapons, Bunyan men- 
tions "all-prayer" as one which possessed great value 
and efficiency. For myself, I acknowledge that in my 
youth I was greatly curious to know what this part of 
the armor could be. I think I understand more about 
it now, since I have been in the conflict. 

And then, Bunyan shows us that in all the panoply 
Christian wore, there was only one thing for attack ; 
the rest was for mere defence. The sword proved to 
be the man's reliance ; for when Apollyon had him 
fairly down, it was only with his great two-edged 



68 THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 

The sword of the Spirit. The word of God. 

sword that he gave the fiend a " deadly thrust" which 
turned the battle; "then, indeed, he did smile and 
look upward ! " 

4. So I judge we may profitably devote a little more 
study to the description of this weapon — "the sword of 
the Spirit, which. is the word of God." 

It is to be supposed that all true Christians admit the 
truth of that military maxim — the best defence is a 
swift attack. 

When our Lord was tempted in the wilderness, he 
did nothing more than just quote Scripture. He 
pressed Satan so vigorously that he began to quote 
Scripture too. Three texts of Deuteronomy — a book 
which skeptics are trying their best nowadays to get 
rid of — defeated the adversary finally. Jesus might 
have used any other form of deliverance, but he chose 
that in order that we who were to come after might 
know the devil could be certainly defeated with that. 
"The word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper 
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the divid- 
ing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and 
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents 
of the heart." 

Apollos was an experienced and adroit swordsman ; 
he was "mighty in the Scriptures." To have a weapon 
in one's hand that is certain to pierce the scales of 
Apollyon every thrust, is of itself enough to make 
every one valiant. Most of us have been told the 
child's story about a mysterious sw r ord which had in its 



THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 6g 

The coward's cure. Hewitson's defence. 

construction a kind of life of its own. It was put in 
the hand of a coward in order to work his cure. When 
he tried to run away, it kept him right up to the front 
of the battle. Whenever he attempted to fling it from 
him, it clung to his grasp. Whenever he sought to 
slink out of sight and hide the bright blade in the folds 
of his uniform, of itself it would leap from the scabbard, 
and begin smiting the first foe it could touch. By and 
by, he learned to put confidence in it ; for he perceived 
he never could be beaten as long as that invincible hilt 
was in his hand. 

Such a weapon is this "sword of the Spirit, which is 
the word of God." It will of itself fight, it will of itself 
conquer, and in the end it will defend and deliver every 
brave man who trusts it. " I will fight you," said a 
hard-fisted man once to the saintly Hewitson. "Very 
well," replied he quietly, taking his Testament from his 
pocket ; "just wait till I get out my sword." 

It seems to me that this is what so interests us in the 
private Bibles of experienced and old veterans of the 
cross. Marked and worn, bearing tokens of use, they 
fall into our hands ; how reverently we look upon 
them ! Anybody would touch Whitefield's Bible gent- 
ly, and turn over its pages with tenderness. Then 
there is the old family Bible, and our mother's Bible. 
All these make us think of those days when Scandina- 
vian heroes hung up their historic swords as symbols of 
prowess among the statues of the demi-gods in the halls 
of the Walhalla. 



70 THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 

Our comrades. True heroism. 

Thus have we been passing through this military 
pageant ; we have heard the call to conflict ; we have 
recognized the adversary ; we have seen the armor ; we 
have touched the weapon. There is nothing left to us 
now but the comradeship ; quietly does the pictured 
scene vanish ; the words of this beloved apostle, as he 
closes the stirring passage, are pathetic and calm : 
" Praying always with all prayer and supplication in 
the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance 
and supplication for all saints : and for me, that utter- 
ance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth 
boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, for 
which I am an ambassador in bonds ; that therein I may 
speak boldly, as I ought to speak." 

No Christian fights the great campaign alone. Around 
him are many soldiers who lift the same banner, keep 
the same step in marching, follow the same Leader, bear 
the same perils, and sing the same song. Paul is not 
too proud to ask that he may be remembered among 
the brethren when they pray. He desires to fight the 
good fight, and keep the faith unto the end. He had 
written a record of which he did not need to be ashamed. 
Would they please pray for him now ? 

Heroism is to be reckoned according to one's circum- 
stances of exposure and need of endurance. Some of 
us have been reading a little story, which has given us 
a grain of comfort. It appears that a poor but worthy 
artisan of Paris once went to his bishop with his heart 
almost overwhelmed with fears. " Father," said he, 



THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 7 1 

The troubled inquirer. The two castles. 



with the most profound humility, " I am a sinner ; I 
admit and feel I am a sinner ; but it is against my will. 
Every hour I ask for light, and humbly pray for faith in 
my struggle ; but still I am overwhelmed w T ith doubt. 
Surely, if I were not despised of God, he would not 
leave me to fight thusw T ith the adversary of souls. Does 
he see me in the midst of my grief ? " 

The bishop is reported to have consoled his sorrowing 
visitor in this way : " You are aware," said he, " that 
the king of the realm has two castles on which he much 
relies for the defences of France. That at Montlhery 
is far inland, and remains remote out of danger ; but 
that at La Rochelle is on the coast and is always a con- 
spicuous mark for marauders from the sea, and exposed 
to sieges ; indeed, it bears the scars of balls from a hun- 
dred bombardments already. A commander has to be 
appointed yearly to each of these famous fortresses. 
Now tell me, w r hich do you suppose stands eminently 
the highest in the estimation of the monarch ? " And 
the man answered easily, " That soldier is the bravest 
who holds his own the most firmly in the place where 
there is greatest danger." 

Then the bishop pronounced his reply well made, 
only adding: " And our king puts ever his most trusty 
veterans into the castle of La Rochelle ; any one who 
could just live there could grow to be famous without 
an effort in the castle of Montlhery ! " 

Says George Eliot, "It is only by a wide compari- 
son made among common facts that even the wisest full- 



72 THE CHRISTIAN ARMOR. 

'* Well-rolled barrels." Old soldiers coming home. 

grown man can distinguish well-rolled barrels from more 
supernal thunder." Our times are crowded with excit- 
ing disclosures. We are not certain just at the moment 
that when the books are opened it will not be found that 
some of the heroes of this age are simply those who have 
stood in high positions of temptation, and yet have not 
fallen from integrity. Even much-abused and much- 
sinning Robert Burns could say : 

" What's done we partly may compute, 
But know not what's resisted." 

How much old soldiers always love each other ! They 
are the gentlest men always who are the bravest. Cow- 
ards only are coarse. What a pageant that will be to 
see when the gates are lifted up, and the King of Glory 
shall enter heaven, leading in the hosts of those who 
have put on, and worn in fidelity, " the whole armor of 
God ! " 



VII. 

THE MIND OF CHRIST. 

Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. — 

Philipgians 2 : 5. 

" The grand natural feature of our northern life," says 
a popular Swedish writer, " is a conquered winter." 

There can be no doubt that the extreme temperatures 
of those almost arctic regions need warm hearts and in- 
ventive minds to render them endurable. The fierce 
blasts chill the blood ; vivacity and good cheer must be 
had in order to make its currents flow again. And so, 
as the tourists tell us, you will find, while you journey 
through Norway or Sweden, as well as Northern Den- 
mark, the hospitable lights gleaming in low windows 
with a new friendliness of welcome, the great fires roar- 
ing in the capacious chimneys, and simple-hearted neigh- 
bors coming every evening to cluster at each other's 
board. There are innocent entertainments for the el- 
ders, intricate puzzle-games for the children, and for the 
youths and maidens (telling the never-old story) brave 
legends and sweet songs. 

Thus the iciness of those Scandinavian climates melts 

in the glow of charity and kindly offices of considerate 

regard. The secret of the genial villagers' success lies 

in the fact that they not only subdue the winter, but also 

4 



74 THE MIND OF CHRIST. 

44 A conquered winter." The new life. 

ingeniously reproduce some sort of organization — like 
summer — in its place. 

See here a symbol of the task which a living Christian- 
ity has set for itself to accomplish. It is no more nor 
less than a positive triumph over the unregenerate win- 
ter in the hearts of men at large. The gospel proposes 
to introduce into all the torpor now reigning in sinful 
humanity a vital cheer and charm, which shall kindle it 
to attractiveness, and bring back to it a semblance, at 
least, of the summer day of its purity and peace. We 
cannot banish winter, but we can conquer it. 

Not, however, by just one frantic effort, but by some 
constituted plan of long continuance and wide reach. 
Religion aims, therefore, to check malevolence and all 
vice, harmonize discord, eradicate error, enlighten igno- 
rance, relieve innocent poverty, banish needless pain, 
and hush the whirlwinds of tempestuous strife. But 
that is not all, by any means. It is not enough, by any 
means. Something positive must be furnished in the 
place of that which it dethrones. The soul of a man 
cannot live upon a nothing. If everything is to be re- 
linquished for piety, then piety must be something more 
than a mere routine of regulations ; it must be something 
better than a mere code of restraints ; it must say " Thou 
mayest," as well as "Thou shalt not." 

Hence the gospel further proposes to institute a new 
structure of human life altogether. It gathers up the 
reinless, restless faculties of the soul, and seeks to com- 
bine them as energizing factors of an entirely fresh ex- 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 75 

Things which remain. The church in Philippi. 

istence. So it makes as much as it can out of what it 
has. It strengthens " the things which remain." It tries 
to cultivate all the graceful amenities of a better social 
arrangement, turning men to help each other, and love 
each other ; cleansing the affections, and cementing to- 
gether the sympathies of all those who own the common 
brotherhood ; and associating such as look up to God 
as the one good Father in a permanent and joyous rela- 
tionship of trust. 

The epistle to the Philippians is addressed to Chris- 
tians. No one can read its affectionate chapters without 
becoming impressed with the thought that Paul is now 
reconstructing a subdued city. Ten years of vigorous 
life had passed since this apostle first preached the gos- 
pel in this Macedonian colony, and brought in his first 
convert in Europe — an Asiatic woman, singularly enough 
— whose heart the Lord opened in a female prayer-meet- 
ing. The church had prospered, was now large and 
powerful. But the leaders were at variance, and some 
of the women had got into trouble. 

Kindly as the apostle writes, it is evident to us all that 
he was vexed and anxious, as he saw how foolishly they 
were pulling each other to pieces. From several expres- 
sions, which he employs in the closing chapter, we infer 
that the principal workers were in a cross, conceited, 
and punctilious humor. They disagreed as to ordinary 
methods of management. They strove for preeminence 
in position. Certain headstrong and obstinate mem- 
bers raised a wild debate in the church. Two women 



/6 THE MIND OF CHRIST. 

Two women differ. Divided leadership. 

— Euodias, " well-favored, " and Syntyche, "happy-for- 
tuned," so by their very names showing they might 
have been about better business — took sides and went 
into opposition. 

It was just the same old story, again and again re- 
peated wherever there are strong people put into the 
same field. It seems inevitable that poor human na- 
tures should differ, provided they have for partisans 
those who love solitary opinions, and propose to force 
them even against hints of good fellowship. 

Unhappy creatures are all such as cannot bear to find * 
others have more of a following than they themselves 
can present. And more unhappy still are the patient 
multitudes of praying people, who are willing to follow 
anybody, if only he will keep the peace and go ahead, 
but who find themselves sorely fretted by jealousies, 
and embarrassed by cliques, which they neither appre- 
ciate nor understand. 

In undertaking to pacify these excited people in 
Philippi, Paul throws himself back upon those old his- 
tories which had attached them to him in days gone by. 
He is not ashamed to plead with them for the sake of 
the love they bore him personally : "If there be there- 
fore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if 
any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, 
fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same 
love, being of one accord, of one mind." 

The grounds on which he bases his appeal for a hear- 
ing are awfully solemn. He summons them to listen 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. J7 

Motives of appeal. Be of one mind. 

by the joys of spiritual repose in the Saviour ; by the 
tender impressiveness of his example ; by the expe- 
rience of charity Christians feel when they love each 
other ; by the hopeful communion they cherish in the 
Holy Ghost ; and by the affectionate sensibilities which 
they give to the lonely and ruined world around them. 
No one can fail to notice the exceedingly lowly and 
affectionate manner which this great and good man 
adopts in approaching these insurrectionary people. 
Most men would have lost head under such reverent 
obedience as that church at Philippi was accustomed to 
give Paul. He might have ordered them ; but he now 
entreats. He had an undoubted chance to command ; 
but he only implores. 

The end he aims at is perfectly plain. Of one thing, 
with all his vast experience, he now must have grown 
perfectly certain — no church, no family, no organiza- 
tion for Christian work and edification, could prosper, 
unless the members were absolutely united in spirit, in 
temper, and in plans. These words, " that ye be like- 
minded," maybe rendered literally, " thinking the self- 
same thing." The unity of purpose he contemplates 
must be unbroken, like the harmony of instruments in 
a band of music ; like the step of a trained platoon of 
soldiers, rhythmic and regular ; like the orderly pull 
of singing sailors when they weigh the anchor at sea. 

Now most of us know some ministers who preach, 
and some merchants who give benefactions, and some 
teachers who instruct classes, and some book-makers 



78 THE MIND OF CHRIST. 

Lowliness of mind. Church of Scotland. 

who write, and some artists who sing, and some flimsy 
fops who dress, for merest display of talent, figure, cul- 
tivation, and supposable graces. Against this the can- 
did apostle proceeds directly: "Let nothing be done 
through strife or vainglory ; but in lowliness of mind 
let each esteem other better than themselves." The 
noun here translated " vainglory" occurs nowhere else 
in the Scriptures. It is devoutly to be wished that the 
spirit censured in it had never been known outside of 
that little colony in Macedonia to which the rebuke was 
first sent. 

In 165 1, the Assembly of the Church of Scotland 
drew up an extensive enumeration of sins, most re- 
markable for its startling annunciation of blame and 
for its searching detection of the particulars on which 
it rested. Among the statements are found the crying 
wrongs, in that day, of people and clergy alike. This, 
for a prominent example: "We acknowledge that, in 
our prayers for the divine assistance, we pray more for 
aid to the messenger than we do for aid to the message 
we bring ; not caring what becomes eventually of the 
word, if only we be, with some measure of assistance, 
carried on with the duty." Then this, for another item 
of ordinary wrong : "We acknowledge that we preach 
Christ, not so much that the people may know him, but 
that they may think we know much of him ourselves." 

Now it cannot be expected that such candor as this 
will find its way often into public confession. Pride and 
vainglory are often unconsciously cherished. It is an 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 79 

Old apothegm. Self-deception. 

ancient classical apothegm : " A serpent is never seen 
at its full length until it is dying." No one will ever 
know how obstinate a thing in the Christian breast this 
proud temper is, unless with courageous purpose he at- 
tacks it, with full intention to kill. 

The commonplaces of duty, the simplicities of doc- 
trine, the first beginnings of experience — these are what 
are hardest to instill into the minds of most self-seeking 
believers. There are some in this world so thoroughly 
mistaken in their estimate of themselves that they can- 
not see the scales by which their eyes are blinded. They 
display their enormous conceit in no other way so plain- 
ly as by asserting they are absolutely destitute of the 
vice of vanity. They flatter themselves by saying they 
have so much dignity that they cannot be flattered. 
They assert they have no bad temper ; and then flash 
into perilous wrath at the amazing impudence of the 
man who doubted it. They will for years watch sullenly 
to take vengeance upon the unwary friend who tendered 
an unwelcome admonition against their being revenge- 
ful — a disposition they always denied. There are some 
persons w T hose very eyes shine w T ith pride just because 
they have settled that now they have reached the ex- 
treme virtue of humility. Hence wisely said the old 
philosopher Seneca : " Flatteries, even when they have 
been most deprecated, please." 

The remedy, which the apostle here recommends, is 
direct : " Look not every man on his own things, but 
every man also on the things of others." This is what 



SO THE MIND OF CHRIST. 

Heroic treatment. The note book. 

physicians call " heroic treatment." Paul says each man 
is to consider others not only equal to himself, but bet- 
ter. The cure of conceit, therefore, would be found 
in just putting our neighbor forward in the exact place 
we ourselves covet. " All great things are simple : " so 
once said a great statesman, himself as simple as he was 
great. This bold apostle deliberately proposes that those 
quarrelsome and ambitious people in Philippi settle their 
discords by giving up quietly to each other ! 

In the Westminster Assembly, it is said the members 
kept little books, wherein they noted arguments to be 
answered, or heads of speeches to be made. In that re- 
nowned body there was one man of whom heretofore the 
literary and theologic world had heard little. So mod- 
est and retiring was he that almost nothing was expected 
of him. Yet now and then he startled those erudite 
sages and eloquent doctors w T ith an address so marvelous 
in power and adroit in ingenuity, as well as convincing 
in logic, that contemporaneous history rang with his 
praise. Some grew jealous, and small spite began to 
throw detractions. They said he had gathered his helps 
from outside sources, and filled his memorandum with 
thoughts from other brains ; in that must be the secret 
of his matchless success. By and by the long sessions 
broke up, and he was asked for a sight of the note-books 
he had carried. They opened every well-worn volume. 
Instead of arguments and reasons and illustrations, they 
found only such expressions as these : " O Lord, vouch- 
safe us light this day ! " " O divine Master, give us 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 8 1 

Gillespie's prayers. Our blessed Master. 

thine assistance ! " " O Lord, glorify thyself through 
us thy servants ! " " Christ, defend against all enemies 
thine own cause ! " 

And that was all. His power lay not in his intellect, 
but in his prayers. His wish was like that of the sainted 
Brainerd : " Oh, let me and mine be nothing, only that 
thine own kingdom may come ! " 

Higher than this it does not seem possible for even 
an inspired preacher to go. But Paul does go one step 
higher. He grows more and more earnest as he con- 
tinues to exhort his dear friends in Philippi, more and 
more fervid with each reiteration of his words of counsel. 
And now at last, as if he well understood the inveteracy 
of their besetting sin, he suddenly makes a new appeal 
of tremendous power, grounding the stress of it upon 
the very essence of their piety, springing out before them 
the example of their Master himself, and challenging 
their instant admiration and imitation : " Let this mind 
be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus : who, being 
in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal 
with God ; but made himself of no reputation, and took 
upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the 
likeness of men : and being found in fashion as a man, 
he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, 
even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath 
highly exalted him, and given him a name which is 
above every name : that at the name of Jesus, every knee 
should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, 
and things under the earth ; and that every tongue 
4* 



82 THE MIND OF CHRIST. 

Christ's exaltation. An orator's expedient. 

should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory 
of God the Father." 

The reach of this exhortation transcends all analysis. 
We should lose the vast force of it by picking it to 
pieces for details of doctrine. Be like Christ : he was 
God ; he became man ; could any one ever have been 
more worthily exalted ? could any one ever have been 
more deeply humiliated ? so he received his recompense 
of reward. 

Just as some orator, skilfully addressing a company 
of soldiers on the eve of battle, begins with an admoni- 
tion and ends with a picture ; just as he would appeal 
to their manhood, their consistency, their honor, and 
their courage, as he would play upon their fear of dis- 
grace and their contempt of poltroonry ; just as he 
would follow up each motive with another and a more 
elevated one, until, at the last, he would invoke their 
patriotism and their love for their leader, alike and to- 
gether, by unfurling the national ensign and showing 
them how he had caused to be painted across the folds 
the likeness of the face they knew ; so here the apostle 
seeks to arouse Christian enthusiasm by quickly exhi- 
biting the very image of the Captain of our salvation, 
and bidding us follow him alone. 

Not without a word of comforting encouragement, 
however. Can any one be like Christ ? Can eveiy one 
be like Christ ? Paul says it will be harder for some of 
us than for others. Some will fear, and some will trem- 
ble ; but all can work, and God is overhead : " Where- 



THE MIND OF CHRIST. 83 

Can all be like Christ? God gives help. 

fore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in 
my presence only, but now much more in my absence, 
work out your own salvation with fear and trembling ; 
for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to 
do of his good pleasure." 

Surely, if one desires the "mind of Christ," he must 
see that he will be very far from securing it, if he exer- 
cises his own mind in showing how unlike him other 
people are. " Boasting is excluded." I do not know a 
more pathetic spectacle in the New Testament than that 
of the two blind men at the gate of Jericho — rivals in 
business, recollect — making (as it were) common cause 
against the uncharitable multitude, and in the same sen- 
tence of speech crying for mercy from the Son of 
David. Matthew Henry's comment on the passage is 
very bright. "These joint sufferers," says he, "were 
joint suitors. Being companions in the same tribula- 
tion, they were partners in the same supplication." 

In every honest effort, God gives mysterious help. 
What is w r anted on our part is decision winged with de- 
votion. Our wills surrender ; just there, God wills for 
us. 

" He who hath felt the Spirit of the Highest, 
Cannot confound, or doubt him, or defy ; 
Yea, with one voice, O world, though thou deniest, 
Stand thou on that side — for on this am I ! " 



VIII. 

PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 

And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and 
NOT UNTO MEN. — Colossians 3: 23. 

Just now my eye caught glimpse of a bit of pleasant- 
ry in a daily newspaper, which, after all, had a meaning 
in it. It seems that a stranger was invited to preach 
for what we call "a colored church." He inquired 
what subject he should choose for a sermon. One of 
the dusky deacons replied, "Oh ! whatever you will, of 
course ; but I think you would do better not to try the 
Ten Commandments ; for I always notice that when 
anybody takes his text there, it has a dampening influ- 
ence upon the congregation." 

But in the same journal, not a dozen columns away 
from this, I noticed again that one of the "colored" 
pastors in New York, while commenting upon the 
crime and conviction of a murderer, who was a member 
of the church, and measurably forward in revivals, gave 
this surprising inconsistency as an illustration of the 
disaster resulting from the divorce of morality and reli- 
gion. This was in dead earnest. It recalled to me the 
times before the war, when some seemed to accept a 
sort of unctuousness and emotionalism in the African 
race for devout piety, and consider that a slave could be 



PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 85 

Religion up in the air. Rules too rigid. 

a Christian, while yet his life was vicious with pilfering 
and lies. 

Evidently color and race have nothing to do with 
such a discussion. The religion which is not moral has 
no pattern for it in the New Testament for anybody. 
It is most significant to notice that the third chapter of 
Colossians, which opens with one of the most glowing 
of all Paul's spiritual appeals, runs at the end into one 
of the most commonplace of his direct counsels. It be- 
gins with saints in heaven, and finishes with servants at 
home. 

That is to say, the apostle, seeking to impress upon 
the minds of those to whom he is writing the reality of 
vital godliness, gives them to understand that it is no 
mere mystical experience kept up in the serene air of 
resurrection heights, but a true life here below, cover- 
ing earthly relationships and prosaic duties. 

No one can fail to be struck with the sprightly cheer- 
fulness with which this familiar paragraph opens. Paul 
would have us know that religion beautifies everything 
it touches. Moralities give a certain sort of additional 
adornment to the celestial life in the soul, just as the 
honest strength of moss-covered rocks gives a finer set- 
ting to the foam of a waterfall, as it flashes white in the 
sunshine. 

The reproach which a ribald world keeps leveling at 
the church is that all human hope and joy, all exuber- 
ance of a contented and happy heart, are heavily re- 
pressed by rigid rules of behavior ; men are thundered 



86 PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 

Swiss clocks. Work does the singing. 

at by the "thou shalt nots" of the Decalogue, and (all 
fun one side) it does have a " dampening effect " upon 
everybody to walk along on the verge of the tomb 
moaning over melancholy prayers. 

The picture here offered furnishes an exquisite reply 
to sneers like this. We have all seen those cunning 
clocks from Switzerland, hung on work-room walls, so 
contrived that, as they tell the hours patiently off with 
hands accurately running across the dial, they shall also 
with each regular stroke of the bell instantly burst into 
some lively little tune, and play through the succeeding 
minutes until sober ticking of real work should be needed 
again. And then it would be found that no valuable 
force had been wasted. Not a second had been lost, in 
the time of the day, for all the sweet recreation of the 
music. The whole room seemed brighter and happier 
for the sudden strain which came forth from the mech- 
anism. Yet it was the same weights that moved the 
pendulum which also swept the unseen fingers over the 
hidden wires ; it was just work, with its solemn purpose 
unchanged, which did the singing. 

Some Christians can keep this up exactly for a long 
lifetime of love and labor. These will understand pre- 
cisely what Paul means here : " Let the word of Christ 
dwell in you richly in all wisdom ; teaching and admon- 
ishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual 
songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord." 
"The devil/' said Martin Luther once, "is afraid of 
good singing ! " 



PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 87 

The family organization. Jewish legend. 

i. Perhaps it is well to notice here, as the first sugges- 
tion of all, how prominently the apostle brings the family 
organization into observation. This whole passage might 
be introduced as a comment upon the expression he so 
often employs in his epistles, when he sends greetings to 
his familiar friends, and mentions explicitly "the church 
that is in thy house." 

The family, as a divine institution, is designed to play 
organically into the church. It is the primary church, 
the nursery of the gospel. And this is what gives to it 
its supreme beauty and strength. If heaven is anywhere, 
as we sometimes sing, "begun below," it is under the 
household roof. There are three words found in the 
English language, found in no other now spoken among 
men — wife y comfort, and home. 

The Jews have an old legend that when Adam and 
his bride were driven out of Paradise, Eve put forth her 
hand, and, unseen, plucked a single flower, which she 
hid in the folds of her leaf -garment. What the flower 
was, no one has ever pretended to say. If it were the 
notion of the family organization, then surely this was a 
celestial plant well saved for an earthly soil. 

2. Now, next to this, we may note that the apostle 
gives full authorization to government as a bond of 
control and dependence in the family. For he proceeds 
directly to recognize husbands and wives, parents and 
children, masters and servants, as members of each 
well-constituted household. Duties are announced as 
belonging to each of these relations. 



88 PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 

Was Paul married ? Christian homes. 

One of the incidental proofs of the inspiration we are 
accustomed to credit to this remarkable man, is found 
in the consummate tact and delicacy which in every in- 
stance characterize his words when he speaks of, the 
home relation. It is yet a mooted question whether 
Paul was a married man, or ever had a family of his 
own. But he certainly knew a language which most of 
us can understand ; a great human common sense makes 
his words wise and profitable. Of John Milton the great 
Dr. Johnson once said, " He was a genius that could cut 
a Colossus from a rock, but he could not carve heads 
upon cherry-stones." This chapter gives us evidence 
that Paul was quite equal to the themes with which he 
was divinely entrusted, both the little and the large. 
One rule he gave in the outset, covering every conceiv- 
able exigency : " And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, 
do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to 
God and the Father by him." 

The application of such a rule as that to all the author- 
ities and subordinations of a Christian family, would re- 
move from them their violence and their peril in every 
particular. There would be consideration for the young 
and reverence for the old. There would be obedience 
and fidelity, confidence and recollection of need. 

Think of a room — what we used to call the " living- 
room " when we were young. Stand (in imagination) at 
the door of it now. See what the artists denominate an 
" interior." Nobody is within at the moment; we are 
alone, pausing on the quiet threshold. Not a sign of 



PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 89 

The "living-room." Eli's curse. 

life is there save the mere bird that lit from the lilac on 
the window-sill an instant ago. Yet how full of real 
beautiful life the room is ! Everything we love and look 
for is right before us. 

Otherwise it would not be a living room. There in 
one corner stands grandfather's table with the Bible 
and his spectacles upon it. In the other corner stands 
a rocking-horse, and down beside it lies a tin rattle on 
the floor. Mothers basket — see the emery-balls like 
big strawberries ! Father's writing-desk against the 
wall — see the sealing-wax he sometimes lends us to 
head pins with ! 

One of the particulars of Eli's curse was that there 
should be no old man in his house. And the reason 
given for this was that he had not earlier governed his 
children. How could any fitly-organized family get 
along without us all together — old and young — sister 
and brother — the baby, and (you could tell me her 
name if I asked you) dear old faithful nurse — all be- 
longing there, and welcome forever ! And now let that 
home be Christian, and on this earth there is nothing 
better to see. 

Travelers approach Venice often in the evening ; 
and, just as they enter, there quite possibly floats out- 
side the barriers a tranquil gondola laden w r ith dear 
companions, who sing as they drift in the moonlight. 
The bright garments are yellow with the fruits that lie 
in their laps, and the flowers droop from the children's 
hair. And with the sweet faces, the gay sally, and the 



90 PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 

Gondolas in Venice. Subordinations. 

gentle song — oh, it does seem to the fatigued tourist, 
speeding on in the cars, as if an actual portion of itself 
had escaped from the beautiful City of the Sea, and 
had unconsciously glided forth beyond the walls that it 
might gladden the shadows of the solemn lagoon with 
its joy ! 

Fit symbol is this, to say the least, by which to speak 
of a household ruled by Christ, and loving him as Lord 
over all. It seems so like heaven, in spirit of joy and 
love, that one might be pardoned for imagining it must 
be a part of it. 

3. Add now to this a third thought, which the apostle 
is very careful to put in, for he knows it is needed just 
here. A distinct limit has been fixed in the family or- 
ganization for the indulgence and exercise of authority. 
It is curious to observe how exactly each relationship in 
the household is brought up against that which is its 
legitimate offset, so that there should be no injustice 
wrought. Thus he runs through all the subordina- 
tions ; " beginning," as said old Dr. Wisner, "with the 
tenderest, and ending with the toughest. ,, 

The husband is the head of the family, and must 
be the final governor of its realm. Hence says Paul : 
"Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as 
it is fit in the Lord." But now there is danger. Irre- 
sponsible authority is exceedingly perilous to the pos- 
sessor. Hence continues Paul : " Husbands, love your 
wives, and be not bitter against them." The rule to be 
maintained must be tempered with affection. Out of 



PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 9 1 

" Children, obey." " Fathers, provoke not." 

that, consideration will come. Something is said some- 
where about the wife being the " weaker vessel/' If 
so, more care and delicacy will be needed in the man- 
agement to keep the " bitter" out. 

Then comes another relationship, taken up with its 
balance also : " Children, obey your parents in all things : 
for this is well pleasing unto the Lord." Most of us 
know what that means, and first and last have had it ex- 
plained to us. But do we dwell as much on this : 
" Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they 
be discouraged." I distinctly remember that, as a 
child, I thought this one' of the wisest texts in the Bible, 
and used to get a good deal of comfort out of it in sea- 
sons of home depression. 

A child has the keenest sort of sense of injustice. 
Generally a decent boy means well, if we can only get 
at what he means. He wants a chance to explain. 
More real wrong has been done to after life than in any 
other way, by hasty and impetuous demands for un- 
questioning silence, when a child has only been trying 
to make his righteousness appear. The saddest of all 
my human experiences, I do here soberly assert, have 
been when I was unable to secure a fair showing, and 
got " discouraged." 

There is something positively beautiful in the inge- 
nuity with which the apostle leads up the self-respect of 
servants in a Christian household with the thought that 
God knows, recognizes, and will reward, fidelity to their 
earthly masters, even in the extreme of obedience : " Ser 



92 PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 

Self-respect kept up. We serve Christ 

vants, obey in all things your masters, according to the 
flesh ; not with eye-service, as men-pleasers ; but in sin- 
gleness of heart, fearing God : and whatsoever ye do, 
do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men." This 
counsel, as before, Paul offsets with a warning ; but he 
intimates it, in this instance, with great courtesy, rather 
than states it outright. He tells the servants that there 
is a life beyond this, and a Master overhead by whom 
all people are one time to be fairly judged : " Knowing 
that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the in- 
heritance ; for ye serve the Lord Christ. But he that 
doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath 
done : and there is no respect of persons." 

The social and domestic station of a servant, here in 
our republican land, is not so firmly fixed or clearly out- 
lined as it is in the more aristocratic countries of the Old 
World. But there is enough in it even with us to try 
character seriously, and give chance for the exhibition 
of true Christian grace. The apostle, in the passage 
we are studying, does not go sufficiently into details to 
cross the minor relationships, or attempt to outline the 
duties they owe to each other. For example, how ought 
servants to behave toward children, and what consid- 
eration do children owe to those who wait on them ? 

Does not the observation of most men and women 
bear me out in remarking here that the worst afflictions 
honest and painstaking dependents — nurses and govern- 
esses and waiters, and all that — have to endure, come 
from children ? The sights in the parks on Saturday af- 



PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 93 

Little King Pepins. Garments in sunshine. 

ternoons are simply exasperating. The tyranny of boys 
over the servants sent to watch them is awful. They are 
nothing more than pigmy despots — little violent King 
Pepins — with a sceptre like a steel whip. I have seen 
girls dressed in highest gentility of garments, whose lan- 
guage and demeanor would have been a shame to a fish- 
market, as they disputed with a small .maid, who was 
trying to do her best as she had been told, and threat- 
ened her with lying reports they would take home, un- 
less she yielded to some bold demand. 

The one thought which lies upon my mind now, after 
studying all these verses so patiently, is this : How much 
of reality there is in the Bible, how much of deplorable 
sham there is outside of it ! 

What sort of religion is it that genuine men and women 
need ? Let them choose it as they do their clothes. It 
is a shopkeeper's trick to exhibit fabrics for garments in 
an unnatural glare or a fictitious gloom. Better to look 
on them in the honest, temperate sunshine of every-day 
experience, where they are to be worn. And so of our 
piety. How wholesome it is to let an apostle lead us 
into the bosom of our families for test ! 

Fidelity in small things — in ordinary relationships — 
this is what meets God's approval, and will receive di- 
vine reward. At the last — at the last — it will be seen 
that not the vast things always, but the patient and the 
true, have been the greatest. " He that is faithful in 
that which is least, is faithful also in much ; and he that 
is unjust in the least, is unjust also in much." 



94 PIETY TESTED AT HOME. 

Samson's last feat. Gentle manliness. 

<c Manoah's son, in his blind rage malign, 

Tumbling the temple down upon his foes, 
Did no such feat as yonder delicate vine 
That day by day untired holds up a rose." 

Even out-of-door business is not so effectual in its ex- 
hibition of real religious character as this quiet life in the 
home circle. Many a man is noted among his compan- 
ions on the street as an amiable and gentle-hearted com- 
rade, who is excessively cross and overbearing under the 
cover of his own roof. He passes for a generous fellow 
full of courtesy, while his wife mourns because of his 
dullness, and his children grow tremulous when his step 
is heard in the hall. Small tyrannies and selfish neg- 
lects, petty indulgence of fretted passion, and sullen 
bursts of temper, cannot be atoned for by talks in the 
public conference or gifts on the plate. 



IX. 

THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that 
we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the 
Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.— i 7'hessa- 
lonians 4 : 15. 

It is not necessary that everybody should be alarmed, 
the moment one mentions the matter of our Lord's sec- 
ond coming on the earth. A very absurd sensitivity is 
manifested, lest what are called " pre-millennial views " 
should find welcome in the churches. Surely, quiet ex- 
position of Scripture ought always to be in order. Only 
lately has over-violent suspicion been started. Certain 
aspects of New Testament truth have hitherto found 
favor among the most considerate of people. 

1. For example, we are all agreed that Jesus Christ is 
coming again some time. Only some say that he will 
come at the general judgment, and others say he is com- 
ing before. 

Years on years we have been singing harmlessly to 
old " Duke Street " the verse : 

" Religion bears our spirits up, 

While we expect that blessed hope — 
The bright appearance of the Lord: 
And faith stands leaning on his word." 



90 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

Watts' version. The oldest epistle. 

Now, this is nothing more nor less than a metrical 
rendering which Isaac Watts has given us of the passage 
in Titus : " For the grace of God that bringeth salvation 
hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying 
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, 
righteously, and godly, in this present world ; looking 
for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the 
great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." And when 
strife runs so high in discussion, it seems exceedingly 
apt to quote the counsel: "Let your moderation be 
known to all men : the Lord is at hand." 

2. Then, again, we are all agreed that the dead will 
be raised to life when the Lord Jesus comes. In a nota- 
ble series of verses, addressed to the church in Thessa- 
lonica, the apostle Paul takes pains to meet a manifest 
anxiety on this head. " But I would not have you to be 
ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, 
that ye sorrow r not, even as others which have no hope. 
For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even 
so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with 
him." 

There is great significance in this ; for we must re- 
member that the first epistle to the Thessalonians is the 
oldest thing in the New Testament. Evidently, the 
earliest matter of discussion among the immediate fol- 
lowers of the risen Redeemer w T as concerning the state 
and future faring of the pious dead. Why not study up 
all we can know upon this subject ? Paul says he would 
not have those people ignorant. 



THE COMING OF THE LORD. 97 

Who was " 666 ? " The ancient dead. 

. It is folly and wilfulness to insist that all disquisitions 
in this direction end in extravagance. When one is 
simply invited to notice that all the Scripture writers 
appear to look upon the Saviour's advent as very near, 
even in their time, it does not seem either fair or rele- 
vant to begin laughing at those who have spent their 
time trying to find out what " man " six hundred and 
sixty-six was the " number" of. Prophecy is a different 
thing from eschatology. 

3. In the third place, we are all alike interested in the 
inquiry whether those believers who are still living, at 
the moment when Jesus Christ appears, will have any 
advantage over such as shall have died previous to that 
moment ; and these verses make it all clear. 

There had been certain announcements made concern- 
ing the advent, which filled the minds of the early Chris- 
tians and arrested their imaginations. They grew en- 
thusiastic as they reproduced the pictures of glorious 
prediction, when the King of the kingdom of heaven 
should descend and claim his own. Those who had been 
laid away in the tomb might almost be pitied, for they 
were in danger of being deprived of the privilege of 
hurrying to the Monarch's triumphal advance. Poor 
human weakness could not understand how the scat- 
tered dust could be collected rapidly enough, and how 
the hurry of events could escape falling into confusion 
for the ancient saints. It did seem to some affectionate 
hearts that there was peril for those who had died with- 
out the sight long ago. " These all died in faith, not 
5 



98 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

Death a sleep. All alive together. 

having received the promises, but having seen them afar 
off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, 
and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on 
the earth." Such might even be overlooked, perhaps 
they were already forgotten in their silence, possibly 
they would be belated in the sublime confusions of that 
day of the Lord. Now was this just fair ? 

The apostle, having first asserted in their hearing that 
to be dead only meant to be asleep in Jesus — nobody was 
lost, nobody had slipped out of sight or remembrance, 
but every one was coming when Jesus himself should 
come — now answers the eager question about the multi- 
tudes of such as would not have died. It is worth no- 
ticing how solemnly and authoritatively he introduces 
his asseveration ; he pledges the entire weight of his in- 
spiration in it : " For this we say unto you by the word 
of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto 
the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which 
are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from 
heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ 
shall rise first." 

We all understand that the old English vt or & prevent 
means come before, or anticipate. Paul asserts that there 
would be no difference in advantage between the living 
and the dead. For the dead would be raised before the 
advent in sufficient season to come with Jesus, and 
share equally with all the faithful of God. Character 
should fix destiny. "The Son of man shall come in 



THE COMING OF THE LORD. 99 

Companionship of Christ. " In the air." 

the glory of his Father with his angels : and then he 
shall reward every man according to his works." 

4. Then, again, we are all agreed that the great glory 
of the future state will be found in the personal compan- 
ionship of the Lord Jesus Christ somewhere. "Then 
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to- 
gether with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the 
air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 

I do not know any class of expositors who believe 
that saints are to remain, or that Christ is to have his 
permanent residence, "in the air." Dr. Candlish, in 
his commentary on the Book of Genesis, and Dr. Chal- 
mers, in his sermon on the New Heavens and the New 
Earth, seem to have thought that this world of ours was 
going to be purified and then made the home of the re- 
deemed, as it once was the home of our holy race be- 
fore the fall. Many theologians believe that heaven is 
a distinct place of abode now, and will be tenanted by 
all the good and pure in heart, when they shall see God. 
There are wide differences here. 

But most Christians are quite under profound convic- 
tion that, as the chief pain and penalty for the wicked 
is that they shall "be punished with everlasting destruc- 
tion from the presence of the Lord," so the chief rejoic- 
ing and glory for the justified will be found in the shar- 
ing of that "presence" through eternity. As Samuel 
Rutherford used to say, "The Lamb is all the glory of 
Immanuel's land." 

Christian biography would make very evident the 



IOO THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

Heavenly anticipation. Mr. Standfast. 

fact that the best men and women the world has ever 
known have, as they grew in grace, grown more and 
more in the eagerness of the anticipation with which 
they have longed for the presence of Jesus the Saviour. 
To them heaven might have been defined as the place 
where Christ is. Its supreme joy would be found in 
the disclosure of his companionship. The weary will 
have rest, the harassed will receive peace, the sad will 
be comforted, the parted and the pure will meet again. 
All this is full of glad welcome. But the main antici- 
pation of spiritual believers in looking to the end of 
their journey, centres upon the person of the divine Re- 
deemer. 

"When Mr. Standfast had thus set things in order, 
and the time being come for him to haste him away, he 
also went down to the river. Now there was a great 
calm at that time in the river ; wherefore Mr. Standfast, 
when he was about half way in, stood awhile, and talked 
to his companions that had waited upon him thither. 
And he said : ' This river has been a terror to many ; 
yea, the thoughts of it also have often frightened me ; 
but now methinks I stand easy ; my foot is fixed upon 
that on which the feet of the priests that bare the ark 
of the covenant stood while Israel went over Jordan. 
The waters are indeed to the palate bitter, and to the 
stomach cold ; yet the thoughts of what I am going to, 
and of the convoy that await me on the other side, lie 
as a glowing coal at my heart. I see myself now at the 
end of my journey ; my toilsome days are ended. I am 



THE COMING OF THE LORD. IOI 

The great comfort. Friends gone before. 

going to see that head which was crowned with thorns, 
and that face which was spit upon for me. I have for- 
merly lived by hearsay and faith ; but now I go where I 
shall live by sight, and shall be with him in whose com- 
pany I delight myself. I have loved to hear my Lord 
spoken of ; and wherever I have seen the print of his 
shoe in the earth, there I have coveted to set my foot 
too. His name has been to me a civet-box ; yea, sweet- 
er than all perfumes. His voice has been to me most 
sweet : and his countenance I have more desired than 
they that have most desired the light of the sun. His 
words I did use to gather for my food, and for antidotes 
against my faintings. He has held me, and hath kept 
me from mine iniquities ; yea, my steps have been 
strengthened in his way.'" 

So much, then, for the analysis of this most wonder- 
ful passage. ' The apostle certainly prized the power of 
the great thoughts he was uttering ; for he instantly 
presses the exhortation that they be put to use among 
those to whom he was writing: " Wherefore comfort 
one another with these words." 

i. There is comfort in the picture thus offered us, for 
those who have been bereaved. Our friends are only 
asleep ; they are not lost ; they are with Christ now ; 
they will come back to the earth when Jesus comes ; 
no matter how long ago, no matter where, they died ; 
and they will be forever with him wherever he is. And 
we shall be with them in the same blessed companion- 
ship, shall know them and dwell with them. 



102 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

Some will not die. Triumph in coming. 

2. There is comfort in the suggestion that perhaps we 
shall not have to die after all. Some Christians are go- 
ing to be alive at the moment when Jesus shall appear 
in the air. Nobody loves death ; it is the awful curse of 
the race, the sting of all our experiences. Nobody can 
think of the grave without shuddering ; it seems dark 
and chill. How fine it would be to escape all that ! 
How glorious to believe it may be possible that the 
Lord's coming is so near at hand now that even the pale 
invalid we are watching will not be compelled to have 
a funeral or wear a shroud ! 

3. There is comfort in knowing that when the Lord 
Jesus comes, it will be not as a crucified Nazarene, but 
as the Son of God. He will have a glorious retinue, 
and will be known as the King. All over this world, 
now for eighteen hundred years, millions of devout men 
and brave-hearted women, together with as many more 
trustful little children, have been praying, every morn- 
ing and night, "Thy kingdom come." That prayer will 
be heard by and by, when the good time arrives. And 
whoever is on the Lord's side that day will be glad to 
meet him in the splendor of his advent. He will not be 
put off with a reed sceptre then ; he will not wear robes 
of mockery. The Lamb of God will then be the Lion 
of Judah ! 

4. There is comfort in holding communion even here 
and now, once in a while, with a Redeemer out of sight. 
Under the ancient dispensation, the high-priest wore 
golden bells upon his garment. While he was inside of 



THE COMING OF THE LORD. 103 

The golden bells. " Watching quietly." 

the tabernacle curtains, the small, sweet sound of their 
ringing could be heard by the faithful people. Christ, 
the high-priest of our profession, is just for a while out 
of our reach, within the veil of the sanctuary above ; a 
chastened imagination can almost hear him making 
ready to come forth to us. We must " endure, as see- 
ing him who is invisible." And every joy w T e have is a 
foretaste and an evidence of the fulness of joy herein- 
after to be revealed. 

5. There is comfort in the recollection that time hur- 
ries. "Now is our salvation nearer than when we be- 
lieved. " Is it possible, then, any truly Christian heart 
can be alarmed in prospect of Christ's coming ? What 
is there that one could wish more devoutly ? What sort 
of wife must she be, whose husband is suddenly an- 
nounced as returning from long absence over the sea, if 
she changes color and seems abashed ? The church is 
the Lamb's bride ; ought she not to make herself ready 
joyously ? If her life be pure, and her heart loyal, will 
she not hail the signs of the advent ? 

" So I am watching quietly 

Every day ; 
Whenever the sun shines brightly, 

I rise and say: 
' Surely it is the shining of his face ! ' 
And look upon the gates of his high place 

Beyond the sea; 
For I know he is coming shortly 

To summon me. 



104 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

" A few more shadows." Simon Peter's hope. 

And when a shadow falls across the window 

Of my room, 
Where I am working my appointed task, 
I lift my head to watch the door and ask 

If he is come ; 
And then the angel answers sweetly 

In my home : 
' Only a few more shadows, 

And he will come.' " 



6. There is comfort in the thought that every real 
grace we attain will give our Lord pleasure when he 
comes. This is the one thing in all the dazzling, deceit- 
ful world around us which counts as an acquisition. 
Wealth goes for nothing ; position in society goes for 
nothing. But faith and hope and meekness and charity 
are what he loves, and what he will welcome when he 
sees us face to face. How sweet and calm are the words 
of the fisherman, Simon Peter, writing in his old age to 
tried and troubled believers of all time. Mark the ex- 
pressions, " looking for and hasting unto." 

" But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the 
night ; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a 
great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall 
be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall 
be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in 
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and 
hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the 
heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the ele- 



THE COMING OF THE LORD. 105 

The great day. Tamil saying. 

ments shall melt with fervent heat ? Nevertheless we, 
according to his promise, look for new heavens and a 
new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, 
beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent 
that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and 
blameless." 

7. Finally, there is comfort in knowing that fidelity 
is all that the Lord Jesus demands at our hands till he 
comes. " For the Son of man is as a man taking a far 
journey, who left his house, and gave authority to his 
servants, and to every man his work, and commanded 
the porter to watch. Watch ye therefore ; for ye know 
not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or 
at midnight, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morn- 
ing." 

It is a Tamil saying, that the cocoanut grove will not 
flourish, which does not hear the footsteps of the owner 
in it, every day. It would seem as if our Lord Jesus 
Christ had designedly chosen that all religious life 
should be made up of many little duties and brief expe- 
riences, so that each believer should come the oftener 
to him for grace. He desires a visit frequently. What 
he claims of us here is plain busy working in our vo- 
cation. No summons has he issued that we forsake 
home or daily toil. Only this : we are to keep looking 
for him, and showing the Lord's death "till he come." 

When the men searched for Sir John Franklin in the 
arctic seas, they came upon a little boat out among the 
icy solitudes. Close by the bleached skeletons lay 
5* 



106 THE COMING OF THE LORD. 

The arctic boat. " Till he come.*' 

clothing and utensils with names engraved ; and there 
were also Testaments and books of prayer, marked and 
underlined. Two double-barreled guns — loaded and 
ready — resting over the boat's side, pointed upward, 
standing where they were placed twelve years before. 
These all now lie in England's proudest museum. And 
there is no allegory on record among the ages, like that 
which those mute memorials speak. Think of the sol- 
emn picture ! 

Out in the unknown polar ocean — danger on every 
hand — no hope, and death coming surely ; yet there 
amid the promises of God's word, and the home-peti- 
tions of devotion, those brave men sat and suffered, 
keeping their eyes open toward any possible help, and 
their muskets prepared to answer even the slightest sig- 
nal from among the cliffs of ice. So they must have 
lingered on, courageous unto death. Be that our pat- 
tern in the agitated life we live ; faithful under the se- 
verest strain of trial, patient to await its issue ; and al- 
ways on the alert for signs of the Lord's coming. 
" Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he 
cometh shall find watching ! " 



X. 

THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we 
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain wb 
CAN CARRY nothing out. — i Timothy 6 : 6, 7. 

The freshest of fishes are sometimes caught in the 
saltest of seas. It is quite possible for even a truly re- 
generate man to live in the world, and yet never so 
much as be tainted by its spirit. He may even vex his 
righteous soul with the iniquity he meets. But if at 
the end of some lengthened years he has no more to 
show for his piety than Lot had when he forsook So- 
dom, we should be at liberty to draw the conclusion 
that his religion was of a tame sort and well broken in, 
so as to have been easily held in hand. 

In the midst of those unusually trying circumstances 
which surrounded the apostle Paul, just after his first 
imprisonment and just before his last, that ended in 
martyrdom, he seems finally to have despaired of ever 
seeing again his young friend Timothy, as he had 
hoped. So he writes him a letter, in which he con- 
structs a fair future for him. He leaves parting coun- 
sels to him, full of wisdom and affection. No one can 
fail to mark the constant gentleness of the solicitude 
pervading the entire chapters. 



IC8 THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 

Godliness with contentment. " An Abraham." 

Out of this epistle has been chosen a passage for the 
study of the young people (and old) in the churches. 
Paul draws a calm picture of what the painters would 
call "still life." Then he suggests a vivid contrast that 
may serve as an offset to it. Next he recalls to Timo- 
thy's mind an inspiriting remembrance t And then he 
utters an impressive admonition, backed with a singu- 
larly solemn appeal. 

i. In the picture here presented, there is not much 
which is calculated to arrest attention. Indeed, the 
language would be pronounced rather commonplace. 
When men are in the hurry and rush for wealth, and 
the road is fairly dusty under the feet of those who are 
running, it seems prosaic for any voice to speak thus : 
" But godliness with contentment is great gain. For 
w r e brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we 
can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment 
let us be therewith content." 

A man, who should soberly assert that he was going 
to construct a life upon such a plain declaration, would 
be voted a lunatic by most of his fellows. Indeed, real 
religious self-denial has always been deemed weakness. 
A hundred and fifty years ago, people in Britain who 
spoke the colloquial English language — so the pious 
old Gurnall tells us — signified their contemptuous esti- 
mation of exact unworldliness by the nickname they 
gave. They said of a silly fool, "He is an Abraka?n" 
And those of us who were reared in New England will 
not need to be reminded that even now the villagers 



THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. IO9 

John Jacob Astor. Godliness is gain. 

speak of a temperate young man, weak in the head, as 
a "Josey." Abraham left a good place for a poorer at 
the call of the Lord. And Joseph refused sin when it 
came to him without the seeking. The world will never 
count such things as wise policies. 

It is said that John Jacob Astor once replied to an in- 
quisitive man, who asked him how much money he had, 
" Just enough, sir, so that I can eat one dinner a day !" 
How much wealth would a man need to enable him to 
eat two ? And does a man want to wear his overcoat in 
the summer months, for fear people will think he cannot 
afford one ? 

There is a play upon words in one of these verses 
which ought not to be altogether overlooked. It would 
seem almost as if the apostle was dropping a sly sar- 
casm. Texts of Scripture must not be imagined to have 
two handles by which they can be wielded indifferently. 
Paul rebukes those who " suppose that gain is godli- 
ness." It may be wholesomely true that " godliness 
with contentment is great gain," while it would be dan- 
gerous to think that great contentment with gain is 
godliness. But still this same apostle presses the exact 
promise elsewhere : " Godliness is profitable unto all 
things, having promise of the life that now is, and of 
that which is to come." 

The force falls here upon the word " contentment." 
They say that foreigners have terrible inflictions when 
they try to pronounce and spell our term " enough." 



110 THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 

Charles V. at Yuste. Bells in the steeple. 

And everybody knows that our own countrymen find 
great difficulty in defining it. 

Some people declare that they are unwilling to try to 
live plainly because it looks like singularity. Now 
singularity differs very much from individuality. I can- 
not say I think that one is improved by being singular. 
To me what Frenchmen call outre appears like what we 
call outrageous. But anybody can afford to be him- 
self. Men have no business to be identical with their 
neighbors. It takes everybody to make a world. After 
his abdication, Charles V., in his retirement at Yuste, 
spent his heavy moments in experimenting to make a 
number of watches keep the same time. He failed con- 
stantly, and grew vexed. But in the end he drew an 
inference worth a record. He suddenly exclaimed : 
" Here am I, toiling on timepieces to force them to tick 
alike, and making ridiculous work : how much worse to 
waste patience in trying to force men and women to 
think alike or to be alike ! " 

There is an independence of feeling which Christian 
men certainly cherish ; and in that is found their high- 
est joy. How pitifully little does a babe bring with it ! 
And how true is the old saying as to the dead : " Shrouds 
have no pockets ! " How sweet that honest satisfaction 
which has all it wants, and wants but little, while it 
sings aloft, like Trinity bells up above Wall Street, or 
St. Paul's over Lombard, serene and beautiful in the 
clear air as the great wild w T orld rushes and roars in its 
tumults beneath it ! 



THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. Ill 

Sheer imitation. Thought from Lacon. 

2. This thought gains force from the quick contrast 
with which the apostle follows it in the verses under our 
eye : " But they that will be rich, fall into temptation, 
and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, 
which drown men in destruction and perdition. For 
the love of money is the root of all evil ; which while 
some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and 
pierced themselves through with many sorrows." 

He makes direct appeal to common observation. The 
multitudes rush after wealth and show, and pursue shad- 
ows all in the same order and in the same way. Equi- 
pages are alike ; dresses come in patterns ; we put our 
latch-keys in our neighbor's door, because the houses 
are built in regular blocks, and we cannot tell our own. 
Sheer imitation is the law of fashion in both social and 
business life. 

Says the thoughtful author of Lacon : " He that can 
be honest only because every one else is honest, or good 
only because all around him are good, might have con- 
tinued an angel if he had been born one ; but being a 
man, he will only add to the number — numberless — who 
go to hell for the bad things they have done, and for not 
doing the good things they intended to have done." 

The result of all this is sadness and unutterable dis- 
may. To have tried to meet all the world's demands, and 
then to be rejected in the end, brings melancholy. And 
no one feels consoled in his "many sorrows " to remem- 
ber that he pierced himself ' ' through with them. " Think 
of the indescribable disgust with which the witty Dean 



112 THE 


CHRISTIAN 


IN 


THE 


WORLD. 








" Prince Posterity.' , 








Spanish proverb. 



Swift, despairing of a living recognition, dedicated one 
of his books to Prince Posterity ! 

The ancient motto — "Speak fair words, and you will 
hear kind echoes " — is not exactly true in such a world 
as ours. Something ridiculously mortifying always hap- 
pens to the one whom the populace praises into conceit. 
I read only a little while ago in Greek history, that ^Es- 
chylus, the poet, was so celebrated by many in his time, 
that they raised the story that he could not die save by 
a blow from high heaven. And, indeed, it so happened 
that an eagle flew up with a tortoise in his talons, and, 
desiring to break the shell, mistook the tragedian's bald 
head for a stone, and so let the heavy reptile come down 
on it : thus was fulfilled the precious oracle. 

Nobody, however, learns the lesson. Yet the num- 
ber of " pierced " men increases, and a morose feeling 
of discontent fills the air with complaints of injustice. 
Moments of success are often moments of mourning. 
Men at the top of things are oftener cynical than con- 
tented. They have reached their so-called prosperity 
just as they have lost the power to enjoy it. So they 
greet your congratulations with a reply from the Span- 
ish book of proverbs: "The gods give plenty of al- 
monds to the toothless ! M 

Hence it comes to pass that we can find a large class 
of men concealing their real disappointment under a 
sort of veil of philosophy. They say they have reached 
rest at last ; ambition is satisfied ; strife is over ; all is 
calm. But their tranquillity is only the shame of what 



THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 113 

*' All quiet on the Potomac.'" Timothy's childhood. 

novelists call disenchantment, their passionless quiet is 
only satiety, their serenity is only disgust. It makes us 
think of that pathetic little card that went the rounds 
in the war : a great river swelling on in the moonlight, 
two or three hillocks with headboards white under the 
trees, no living thing beside the soldiers' graves, and 
the motto " All quiet on the Potomac." So worldlings 
quiet down at the last; the fight has brought no vic- 
tory, the weary march has caught no triumph ; the light 
is but a night-light, the stillness is nothing more than 
the solemnity of death. 

3. The vision grows weird : it is a relief to turn now 
to the inspiriting remembrance which the apostle recalls 
to his young friend's mind. With most rapid reversal, 
he shows better cheer : "But thou, O man of God, flee 
these things ; and follow after righteousness, godliness, 
faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight 
of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art 
also called, and hast professed a good profession before 
many witnesses." 

In this way he calls Timothy's recollection to the fact 
that he was an acknowledged and covenanted child of 
God. What his mother Eunice and his grandmother 
Lois had pledged for hirn, he had himself deliberately 
accepted ; so he was now irrevocably bound to a pure 
religious life. 

How far one's public profession of faith may be 
pressed as a motive to unswerving fidelity ; what is the 
value of a piety which is held to consistency by the con- 



I 14 THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 

Simon Stylites. " Patriarchal gold-fish." 

sciousness of a promise made before " many witnesses/' 
it is not precisely easy to say. But surely no one can 
doubt that the appeal is legitimate. When old Simon 
Stylites put a railing around the top of the stone pillar 
he lived upon, in order to keep him from falling off over 
the edge, people laughed, and said sainthood was quite 
possible when so thoroughly protected. But it was 
wild bravado for him to tear the barriers away, after he 
had become used to them. We are all creatures of law. 
Restraints, if not leaned upon, have a registered worth 
as helps. In one of her bright books, George Eliot 
suggests as a somewhat quaint figure for our use the 
conduct of a " patriarchal gold-fish" in a glass globe. 
From long experience this sagacious creature had 
learned just how far to swim inside of the transparent 
limit so as to avoid striking the hard crystal with its 
nose. Thus it felt without feeling, and knew without 
recognizing, exactly when to turn in its course with a 
beautiful curve of avoidance. I judge that if one's 
" profession " be employed, not as a fret and restriction, 
but as a friendly reminder of the line between the world 
and the church, it will be of permanent value. 

But the solid meaning of the counsel lies here. Con- 
version is admitted as a grand necessity and an essential 
fact. But it is the after-life which gives the anxiety. 
It may as well be said at once, and with all intensity, 
that any man will fail of excellence utterly, and will be- 
come lamentably a backslider, who does not immedi- 
ately on his renunciation of the world construct a new 



THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 1 1 5 

Construct a new life. A bankrupt. 

life and begin to live in it. Timothy must be taught 
what to " flee," but, more yet, what to "follow." No 
man will be able to get on, or even to stand, unless he 
manages to make more of his Christian experience than 
a mere series of restraints and self-denials. He cannot 
live upon negatives. 

Religion has within its reach a whole fresh world of 
delightful occupation. The best part of any beautiful 
city is always found a good distance inside of the forti- 
fications erected for defences. So the real resources of 
believing life are attained a great way this side of the 
catechism commandments with their " requirings and 
forbiddings" of bristling conflict. One will miss the 
very essence and meaning of personal piety, if he sup- 
poses it merely to be an arrest and confinement of the 
soul in order to deliver it from the onsets of irresistible 
sins — resembling, perhaps, that merciful imprisonment 
sometimes given by his friends to a bankrupt, with a 
hope of defending him from being torn to pieces by im- 
placable creditors ; it is not that, indeed. 

The reason why so many people backslide after what 
they assume to be conversion is found exactly here : they 
will not enter the new world which the gospel provides, 
and so will not consent to live up to their own privileges. 
They try to sustain a precarious foothold upon the world 
they profess to be leaving. m Hence they keep making 
ungenerous comparisons. They permit many an unlaw- 
ful hankering after surrendered lusts. Whereas the gos- 
pel adopts and announces a single standard. If one is 



Il6 THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 

Holiness means wholeness. The final charge. 

not with Christ, he is against him. Half-love is whole 
mockery. If a man claims to be a Christian, he must 
instantly be naturalized in the realm he has entered. 
Holiness is simply the old strong Saxon for wholeness. 

That word "wholly" is a fine word. It can be fol- 
lowed all over the Bible with a concordance to the profit 
of us all. Paul told Timothy to put his entire self into 
his work: "Meditate upon these things; give thyself 
wholly to them ; that thy profiting may appear to all." 
No person ever accomplished anything in this world 
who went at his task half-heartedly. So he says else- 
where to all Christians : " And the very God of peace 
sanctify you wholly : and I pray God your whole spirit 
and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the com- 
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ." 

4. And now this true friend closes his words with the 
utterance of a most impressive admonition : "I give thee 
charge in the sight of God, who quickeneth all things, 
and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate wit- 
nessed a good confession ; that thou keep this command- 
ment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of 
our Lord Jesus Christ : which in his times he shall show, 
who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, 
and Lord of lords ; who only hath immortality, dwelling 
in the light which no man can approach unto ; whom 
no man hath seen, nor can see : to whom be honor and 
power everlasting. Amen." 

Some young people are imagining themselves tired of 
a religious life already: are you sure you actually know 



THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 117 

Tired of religious life. The shepherd-boy. 

anything about true religious life ? Have you ever cast 
your lot wholly in with Christ and his friends, with a 
cheerful determination to find what are their pleasures 
and their joys ? Have you ever really set out to take 
your chances with the people of God ? And are you 
forced now to confess that you have exhausted the en- 
tire round of legitimate happiness, used up Christian 
amusements, and squeezed out all the juices from even 
the richest fruits growing on the tree of life ? Is it a 
fact that the gospel fails in its promise ? 

" How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my 
son ? " Well, if you are tired of the New Testament, 
will you read a bit of Pilgrim's Progress, which I some- 
times think stands next to it ? There was a shepherd- 
boy, who was overheard singing in a gentle voice by 
himself ; Great-heart called attention to his song : 

"He that is down needs fear no fall; 
He that is low, no pride; 
He that is humble ever shall 
Have God to be his guide." 

It was this lad who lived the merriest life, and had 
most of the herb called heart's-ease in his bosom. He 
dwelt in the Valley of Humiliation. 

Did you ever watch a happy bird poised on a branch 
in the tree ? To you the twig on which he rested seemed 
exceedingly slender and unsafe, but there he tossed and 
floated and swayed in the wind ; there he joyously sang 
and sported ; careless whether the spray bent or broke 



Il8 THE CHRISTIAN IN THE WORLD. 

A bird on a twig. Ancient baptisms. 

the next moment. For folded at his side he had wings. 
If he fell, he simply fell on his feathers, and rested as 
he rose. The sky was his home. It was only just for 
the moment he stopped at the forest. He could make 
use of any convenient leaf, twig, or trunk in it, but not 
even the whole wood could injure or hinder him. Piety 
is the soul's pinions as well as its plumage. It beauti- 
fies it at the moment it sustains it. Even in the world, 
the Christian has " godliness with contentment," and 
finds it " great gain." But he can leave it any time at 
God's will. 

Read over once more this appeal at the end of the 
passage. At ancient baptisms, the officiating minister 
used to fold the white linen garment which the young 
Christian wore, and hand it back to him : then he would 
say, "See thou present this robe of your profession 
spotless at the judgment-seat of Christ ! " 



XL 

THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 

Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, 
to obey magistrates, to be ready to every good work, 
to speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, 

SHOWING ALL MEEKNESS UNTO ALL MEN. — Titus 3: I, 2. 

Perhaps no finer proof of the one inalienable sense of 
our common humanity can be furnished at an instant 
call, than what is given in the fact that a great picture 
derives the most of its power from the presence in it of 
some one, or more than one, human figure ; and spe- 
cially when that figure represents an individual in the 
extremity of emotion, of penitence or passion, or even 
of physical pain. Andromeda, fast to the wild rock, 
constrains us to gaze upon herself more than upon the 
monster which threatens or the champion who advances 
to deliver her. Prometheus, bound to the cliff-side, riv- 
ets our eyes upon him as possessing an energy of awful 
appeal far beyond the majesty of the ocean before him, 
or the wrath of high heaven gathered in blackness over- 
head. For he is a man, and we are men ; so we instinc- 
tively and inevitably take sides with him in the fight of 
forces. 

Something like this is the feeling with which, in ima- 
gination, we contemplate the life and times of Paul, or 



120 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 

A good man solitary. The " little bird.'* 

of Titus, the youthful preacher to whom he once sent 
an epistle. Let some historical artist draw for us a pic- 
ture of the Roman empire as it then was. Our atten- 
tion would be more quickly arrested by the forms of 
those few Christians who appeared in it, than by any 
mere political grandeur or showy social life which it ex- 
hibited in colors no matter how glowing. "A good 
man struggling with adversity is a sight for the gods to 
look at." So those old Latin people used to say in their 
poems. We are sure that no spectacle is more attrac- 
tive, in our easy day, than that of one of those patient, 
early evangelists surrounded by the heathen. A gen- 
eral sense of solitariness pervades the scene, actually 
heightened by the pathos of the single-handed soldier 
of the cross holding his place with sad bravery and 
hopeless valor. Fidelity will be rewarded, but martyr- 
dom is near. 

It makes one think of the ancient and well-known in- 
genuity of artistic skill. Solitude is best represented 
on canvas by a life in the midst of the loneliness — the 
loneliness vast, the life small and at a disadvantage. 
We all remember the anecdote of that painter who had 
pictured his deserted forest — wild, forsaken, dreary — 
but away down in a corner, on a twig of a blasted tree, 
sat a diminutive sparrow, evidently bereaved of its mate. 
Many bystanders in the gallery felt what they could not 
criticise. But the great artist Turner moved up quietly 
behind his comrade, and with eyes full of moisture said, 
" I saw your little bird ! " 



THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 121 

All alone in Crete. Obey the law. 

Take that third chapter of the epistle to Titus, and 
let us read over the verses together. Vividly conceive 
of this young man surrounded by a world of wickedness 
and wrong, and then listen to Paul, the aged, as he 
talks. 

i. The very earliest lesson which is suggested is, that 
individual excellence is what makes national strength. 
For there can be no mistaking of the directness of the 
apostle's counsel. He tells Titus that he must preach 
personal purity, obedience, and peace, to all the citizens 
around him : "Put them in mind to be subject to prin- 
cipalities and powers, to obey magistrates, to be ready 
to every good work, to speak evil of no man, to be no 
brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all 
men." 

We must remember that the case was hard just at that 
time. On the imperial throne sat a miscreant no less 
conspicuous and intolerable than Nero. His name has 
been handed down along the ages as one of the vilest 
and wickedest rulers the world ever knew. Yet Paul 
exhorted all Christians to abide steadily in a life of law 
and order. But it required a great grace of patience to 
respect such " powers " as were at the head of the gov- 
ernment in Titus's day. 

We have our croakers now, finding a vast deal of fault 
with those in the lead of affairs in republican America. 
It ought to arrest attention of such that the apostle, even 
in worse circumstances than any we ever yet have known 
in our land, said, as Simon Peter said likewise : " Obey 



122 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 

Cretians always liars. True charity. 

your magistrates, be subject to the higher powers: sub- 
mit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's 
sake : whether it be to the king, as supreme ; or unto 
governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the 
punishment of evil-doers, and for the praise of them that 
do well." 

Then think what a vile herd of common creatures 
this young Christian had around him. He was dwelling 
in Crete, an island in the Mediterranean now called 
Candia. The inhabitants were reckoned as among the 
worst in the world ; and they are the hardest people in 
the East now. They were the proverbial " liars" of the 
age. A hundred great cities told of their wealth and 
prosperity. But the citizens were violent and quarrel- 
some, coarse and profane, licentious and untrustworthy. 
" One of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said, 
1 The Cretians are always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies/ " 
Yet Paul told Titus to be patient and keep his temper. 
A gentleman is only a " gentle " man ; politeness is (ety- 
mologically) good citizenship. " For the grace of God 
that bringeth salvation, hath appeared to all men, teach- 
ing us, that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we 
should live soberly, righteously and godly, in this pres- 
ent w T orld." 

2. Hence a second lesson follows right on this : Char- 
ity to others is best promoted by an honest consideration 
of what we are ourselves. No man, who is conscientious, 
can fail to remember many a mean act he has during his 
life committed. Most of us could tell the day and the 



THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 1 23 

Patriotism, " the last refuge." Sir Robert Walpole. 

hour when we did palpable injustice to some one — we 
were inconsiderate, selfish, suspicious ; we pushed too 
hard and drove one who was weaker to the wall ; we in- 
terjected into some mind a vein of bitterness for all 
time ; we indulged personal tastes and appetites to the 
worry and pain of some who loved us dearly. " For we 
ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, de- 
ceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in mal- 
ice and envy, hateful, and hating one another." 

It is very hard to rise above the social or domestic at- 
mosphere we are accustomed to breathe, so as to inhale 
the serener air on the elevated plains of purity and jus- 
tice and eternal right. But men must be willing to be 
odd in order to be honest. " Live with your century," 
says Schiller, "but be not its creature; bestow upon 
your contemporaries, not what they praise, but what 
they need." 

What is the use of continuous railing at public men ? 
Is anybody happier in quoting the cynic Dr. Johnson : 
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel?" Sir 
Robert Walpole observed once it was fortunate that few 
men could be prime ministers ; because it was fortunate 
that few men could know the abandoned profligacy of 
the human mind ; and he added, with his well-known 
sarcasm, that every individual had his price. 

Thus the man who carps most is the one who falls 
quickest. If all men have their price, what was Wal- 
pole's ? Is it any worse meanness for little men to be 
bought up, than for big men (who know better) to buy 



124 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 

Havelock's men. Cannon and coin. 

them ? Did you ever see a foolish farmer's boy, trim- 
ming trees, cut off the very branch he was sitting on, 
sawing through between himself and the trunk ? 

3. We move on to reach a third lesson. The apostle 
tells Titus that he will make the better citizen the often- 
er he recalls to mind how much he owes, and must for- 
ever owe, to sovereign grace, as a child of God and an 
heir of heaven : " But after that the kindness and love 
of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works 
of righteousness which we have done, but according to 
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, 
and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us 
abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour ; that, be- 
ing justified by his grace, we should be made heirs ac- 
cording to the hope of eternal life." 

People nowadays are excessively diffident in attribut- 
ing their successes or their virtues to their piety. Yet 
now and then the world will find it out for itself. 
" Havelock's men " in campaigns wrote their record by 
their prayers as well as by their prowess. In our own 
war there was a regiment that loved to march into bat- 
tle singing the refrain, " I'm going home, to die no 
more ! " They got the nickname, of course, and were 
called the " Die-no-mores." But officers observed that 
these tranquil men stood while others failed, and did not 
cower nor whine when they were wounded. 

Philip of Macedon used to boast that he had taken a 
great many more towns in his campaigns with silver 
than he had with iron. Soldiers of the cross surely 



THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 1 25 

Rutherford in Aberdeen. Our early history. 

ought never to be bought in with corruption. But 
they must remember that Satan has coin as well as can- 
non, and what onsets of violence are sometimes quite 
unable to accomplish, seductions of vice will often bring 
about. 

The highest motive, and the sweetest solace, that ever 
swayed or soothed human experience, lies in the simple, 
grand recollection, " I am God's own child by grace, my 
Saviour is his only begotten Son, and heaven is my 
home because he loves me ! " 

When the world pursues a Christian, with that hope 
in his heart, it usually finds him far out of reach. 
Think of good old Rutherford writing from the prison 
of Aberdeen. He repeats the words of the prophet, 
" And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, 
and a covert from the tempest ; as rivers of water in a 
dry place ; as the shadow of a great rock in a weary 
land." And then he adds: "I creep under my Lord's 
wings in the great shower, and the waters cannot reach 
me. Let fools laugh the fools' laughter and scorn 
Christ, and bid the weeping captives in Babylon sing 
them one of the songs of Zion. We may sing, even in 
our winter's tempest, in the expectation of our sum- 
mer's sun at the turn of the year. No created powers 
in hell, or out of hell, can mar our Lord's work, or 
spoil our song of joy. Let us then be glad and rejoice 
in the salvation of our Lord ; for faith hath never yet 
the cause to have tearful eyes or a saddened brow." 

Surely, patriotism rooted in personal piety ought to 



126 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 

Jewish weddings. Pierpont's hymn. 

be found in our land more frequently than anywhere 
else in the world. The early colonies which started 
these States were all missionary associations. The 
foundations of this republic were laid with prayers and 
tears of devout and self-sacrificing men. At every Jew- 
ish wedding, the bride spills on the floor the wine that 
is handed her, to denote that Israel's spiritual glory has 
passed away ; and then in turn the groom breaks the 
goblet, to show that her temporal dominion is also in 
ruins. Oh, if the time ever comes, when our own dear 
country shall experience a like desolation, when the sad 
bride of a mournful groom shall need to dash at her 
feet the glittering emblems of national destruction, it 
will be because we have forgotten the God whom our 
fathers honored, and suffered the walls of his Zion to 
crumble under the derelictions of our service and the 
weakness of our faith ! Let us hope for better things. 

" The pilgrim spirit has not fled ; 

It walks in the noon's broad light ; 
It watches the bed of the glorious dead, 

With the holy stars by night — 
It watches the bed of the brave who have bled, 

And shall guard the ice-bound shore, 
Till the waves of the bay, where the Mayflower lay, 

Shall foam and freeze no more ! " 

4. Finally, the apostle adds a lesson for his friend 
Titus about his preaching, which every Christian, try- 
ing to instruct others, might lay well to heart ; namely, 
that the best of all teaching in truth is the teaching of a 



THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. \2J 

Young convert's peril. Maurice's motto. 

true life. He tries to lead him away from mere formu- 
las, and force him to deal with real things in a real way 
for greatest good : " This is a faithful saying ; and these 
things I will that thou affirm constantly ; that they which 
have believed in God might be careful to maintain good 
works. These things are good and profitable unto men. 
But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and con- 
tentions, and strivings about the law ; for they are un- 
profitable and vain." 

" After the first phase of Christian life," remarks 
Merle d'Aubigne, " in which a man thinks only of 
Christ, there usually ensues a second, when the Chris- 
tian will not voluntarily worship with assemblies op- 
posed to his personal convictions." That is a gentle 
way of saying that, after a new convert cools a little in 
piety, he takes a time of becoming denominational and 
belligerent. Perhaps the apostle Paul imagined Titus 
was going to do that, and so told him he had better not. 

If there be any truth in the line " The child is father 
of the man," it is manifest most plainly in religious 
life. The young believer perpetuates himself in the 
old. Maurice, son of William the Silent, at the age of 
seventeen, took for his device a fallen oak, with a young 
sapling springing from its root ; to this he gave the 
motto, Tandem fit sur cuius arbor , " The sapling will by 
and by become a tree." It seems very trite to write all 
that out soberly ; but really it is a thing most unfortu- 
nately forgotten. 

Some young citizens are ambitious to get a name, and 



128 THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 

Cato's suggestion. Real usefulness. 

help give a name to their country. Cato once remarked 
most suggestively that he would rather posterity should 
inquire why no statues had ever been erected to him, 
than why some were. It is a better thing to be than to 
do. A life is a nobler gift to one's country than any 
achievement. I would rather that some dear friend, in 
the quiet hour when he was thinking of me, should say 
" He was thoughtful for the right, and not so much for 
the brilliant ; he said little, but he lived true ; he stood, 
when it would have been easy to break ; he was ' careful 
to maintain good works ; ' he saw the truth, and loved 
it to the end," — I would rather one said that of me, than 
that he said I was one of the marked men of my age. 

And then as to usefulness also ; how may a young 
Christian do most good ? I answer, by being good him- 
self. What a work this is for us all, like the young 
Titus, to be permitted to hold to thirsty lips the water 
of life, then to mark how they drink it, how they are 
instantly quickened and begin to sing ! Possibly some 
Christians are discouraged when they think of poor 
results. Perhaps you never were made the instrument 
in converting a single soul as yet. There is no reason 
why you should not be. You long for this reward ; very 
well, portion it out for 'yourself ; it is attainable. Put 
a sign upon it for your possession in the sight of God ; 
say prayerfully, " Give me the supreme grace of turn- 
ing this sinner to the cross ; " he will give it to you ; 
and it is worth your choice. 

I choose to fortify this point by a personal reminis- 



THE CHRISTIAN CITIZEN. 1 29 

The five-barred gate. Pay son's exultation. 

cence. Out from my early, and sometimes erring, min- 
istry comes an affectionate memory of the past. Some 
few grown young men in my congregation, seeing the 
silly pride which made many of their own age forsake 
the Sabbath-school as they came on in years, organized 
themselves into a Bible-class, and took turns in its lead- 
ership. They planted their curved seat close by the 
door, and sent their name to me, as it appeared on the 
list — " The Pastor's Five-barred Gate." Year after year 
they kept their position, growing in grace, as they grew 
in knowledge of the word. Nobody raised the question 
in that school thereafter. Any vain pupil who would 
be wise (Job 11 : 12), though "born like a wild ass's 
colt," had to leap that five-barred gate to get out of the 
blessed enclosure. I have lived long since then, seen 
those dear friends rise into honor and usefulness in the 
church of Christ, despite of their odd name. And grate- 
fully, I here acknowledge the power of their simple- 
hearted fidelity. 

A Sunday-school class is only a little congregation of 
five or ten, and the teacher is its preacher as truly as 
Titus was " bishop " in Crete. Said the dying Payson : 
" Oh ! if ministers only saw the inconceivable glory that 
is before them, and only felt the preciousness of Christ, 
they would not be able to refrain from going about, leap- 
ing, and clapping their hands for joy, exclaiming, \ I'm 
a minister of Christ ! I'm a minister of Christ ! ' " 
6* 



XII. 

SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

"Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of 
Christ. — Colossians 2 : 17. 

Most enthusiastic readers of the Holy War will recall 
one passage of singular interest, in which Bunyan relates 
that upon a time Immanuel the prince made a feast for 
the town of Mansoul, and the folk came together to the 
castle to partake of his banquet. There was food fur- 
nished from his father's court ; there was music also all 
the while at the table ; and, after the feast was over, 
Immanuel was for entertaining the town with some cu- 
rious riddles of secrets, drawn up by his father's secre- 
tary, by the wisdom and skill of Shaddai ; the like to 
these there are not in any kingdom. The riddles were 
made upon King Shaddai himself, and upon Immanuel 
his son, and upon his wars and doings with Man- 
soul. 

So the story runs on : " Immanuel also expounded 
unto them some of those riddles himself, but, oh, how 
they were lightened ! They saw what they never saw 
before ; they could not have thought that such rarities 
could have been couched in so few and such ordinary 
words. Yea, when these riddles were opened, the peo- 
ple gathered that the things themselves were a kind of 



SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 131 

Feast in Mansoul. M The body is of Christ." 

portraiture, and that of Immanuel himself. For when 
they read in the scheme where the riddles were writ, 
and looked in the face of the prince, things seemed so 
like one to the other that Mansoul could not forbear 
but say — ' This is the Lamb, this is the Sacrifice, this is 
the Rock, this is the Red Heifer, this is the Door, and 
this is the Way ' — with a great many other things 
more." 

At the bottom of the page, one finds the foot-note of 
stiff explanation, quaint and stately as usual : " The rid- 
dles seem to refer chiefly to the types of Christ, which 
abound in the Scriptures, and which are full of divine 
entertainment to gracious and enlightened souls. The 
very portraiture of Jesus is seen in them. Meditation 
on them adds greatly to the delights of the gospel 
feast." 

But an authority much higher than either John Bun- 
yan or his annotator has set this entire matter at rest. 
In one of his plainest discourses our Lord said : " Search 
the Scriptures : for in them ye think ye have eternal 
life : and they are they which testify of me." 

Hence this passage in the ninth chapter of Hebrews, 
which the classes are soon going to study in detail, is 
nothing more nor less than a reiteration with extensive 
particulars of w T hat Jesus in person had declared would 
be the grand reward for all faithful Scripture study. If 
men would only read the Bible as it ought to be read, 
they would be sure to find Christ everywhere in it* 
Even the most intricate and mysterious ceremonials of 



132 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

Allegories and symbols. Christ, the world's Saviour. 

that former dispensation which vanished when the Sav- 
iour came would surprise us with their clearness of ref- 
erence to him and his work. 

This suggests to us the way in which to examine the 
Old Testament as a whole. See in its entire record — 
history, prophecy, rites of worship and songs of praise 
— symbols and signs, emblems, allegories, and figures, 
" which are a shadow of things to come ; but the body 
is of Christ." 

The apostle has been telling the Hebrew Christians 
that many of those matters which they had considered 
peculiarly Jewish, selfishly claiming them as national 
and special to themselves, were of Christian relevance 
and belonged to the whole world. The tabernacle was 
cosmopolitan, Aaron's rod and the pot of manna were 
of universal ownership. Even the high-priesthood would 
have to be generously shared with those of every age and 
nation under the canopy of heaven. He went in before 
the altar for the great race of men : — "The Holy Ghost 
this signifying, That the way into the Holiest of all was 
not yet made manifest, while as the first tabernacle was 
yet standing : which was a figure for the time then pres- 
ent, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that 
could not make him that did the service perfect, as per- 
taining to the conscience ; which stood only in meats 
and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinan- 
ces, imposed on them until the time of reformation. 
But Christ being come a high-priest of good things to 
come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not 



SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 1 33 

Old Testament characters. Moses and Jacob. 

made with hands, that is to say, not of this building ; 
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own 
blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having 
obtained eternal redemption for us." 

I. — Now let us look, in the first place, at the legiti- 
mate method of work which this principle suggests, and 
trace out a few results to which it will lead. 

1. Of course, we shall expect to find the person and 
office of our Lord typed now and then in the historic 
characters of the Old Testament. As, for example, 
Moses ; for Simon Peter mentions him, quoting his very 
words : " For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A 
prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of 
your brethren, like unto me ; him shall ye hear in all 
things, whatsoever he shall say unto you." Very inter- 
esting would be the exercise, with some of the bright 
children in our Christian families, to ask and answer 
how many things in this famous leader's life would re- 
mind us of Jesus. How was our Lord "like unto" 
Moses ? Threatened in infancy — rejected by those he 
came to serve— fasting forty days in the wilderness of 
Sinai — transfigured on the mount — so the enumeration 
would run on. 

Jacob also would invite study ; for that wonderful 
ladder of his which he saw at Bethel reappears in the 
New Testament record with a gospel meaning attached 
to it. Nathanael must have noticed the reference when 
Christ spoke to him : " And he saith unto him, Verily, 
verily, I say unto you. Hereafter ye shall see heaven 



I 
134 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

Joseph's history. Christ our Passover. 

open, and the angels of God ascending and descending 
upon the Son of man." 

Joseph's story, likewise, is full of suggestion. How 
much like Jesus' "Come unto me" does this remem- 
bered verse sound, if we call to mind the whole history 
behind it: "And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come 
near to me, I pray you : and they came near. And he 
said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into 
Egypt." 

2. Then in the ritual and the ceremonies of that old 
dispensation we should be sure to find Christ. Indeed, 
this is the entire force of the passage before us now. 
The candlestick, the table of shew-bread, the censer, 
Aaron's rod, and the pot of manna, are all declared to 
be without significance, unless we remember the les- 
sons they had to teach concerning the Saviour. A 
mere figure "for the time then present" was this whole 
tabernacle scheme : the substance was Christ The 
scape-goat was a "portraiture" of Christ. The cities 
of refuge symbolized Christ. The New Testament wri- 
ters make no hesitation in passing over to Christ's ac- 
count even the sacredest festivals of Jewish history. 
The apostle Paul exhorts the Corinthians : " Purge out 
therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as 
ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is 
sacrificed for us." Why not raise in this case also the 
question with children, How was our Lord Jesus like 
the lamb whose blood was sprinkled on the door-posts ? 

3. There seems almost no end to such disquisitions ; 



SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 1 35 

The brazen serpent. The cure for sin. 

but one thing more may profitably be instanced. In 
the annals of ordinary history often may the prediction 
or the picture of the living Christ be found. No more 
pertinent illustration of this could be given than that 
which our Lord himself employed with Nicodemus on 
the occasion of that ruler s visit to him in the night : 
"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, 
even so must the Son of man be lifted up ; that whoso- 
ever believeth in him should not perish, but have eter- 
nal life." The whole gospel of grace is in such a story 
as this. Indeed, so vivid is the figure that one helps to 
make the New Testament plain, as he rehearses the Old 
Testament narrative of that part of the Exodus. We see 
the hopelessness of human ruin in the writhing pain of 
the men bitten by the fiery serpents ; we note the sover- 
eignty of the divine interposition, as we perceive Moses 
placing the brazen image upon the erected pole in the 
camp ; we are ready to sing " There is life for a look at 
the crucified One," when we gaze at the multitudes 
coming up for a relief ; and we rejoice that a cure for 
sin has been made permanent and complete, as we read 
of those people healed on the instant in answer to their 
faith. 

Thus everywhere in the Scriptures we find a far-reach- 
ing prediction of redemption and of a redeemer for 
men. The very texture of the record appears at times 
designedly transparent, as if it had been intended to 
adorn what it was not yet quite ready to reveal. One 
reads portions of that ancient book, which was all the 



I36 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

An oriental maiden. Exegesis and eisegesis. 

" Bible " men had when the epistle to the Hebrews was 
first written, as the enthusiastic tourist looks at the veil 
of an oriental maiden he meets — a mere gauze across 
the beautiful countenance, heightening a loveliness 
which it hardly pretends to conceal. His earliest thought 
may be, How exquisite is the fabric ! But his exclama- 
tion comes instantly afterward, Oh, how sweet is the 
face ! 

II. — From this it is becoming that we turn for a mo- 
ment to consider, in the second place, one altogether 
illegitimate application of the principle we have been 
seeking to illustrate. 

It is not true that every verse of inspired writing has 
a hidden gospel meaning lying under its plain state- 
ment, as if it floated " swan and shadow " on the stream 
of revelation. It is useless and harmful to pervert exe- 
gesis into eisegesis, and put Christ in where he is not. It 
is not too much to say that there are whole paragraphs 
and chapters which do not touch on the gospel plan or 
experience. 

After familiar observation during some years, I feel 
inclined to think that in searching the Scriptures more 
failures are made in reference to the true object and 
methods of search than in anything else. What are our 
modern Bereans looking for in the Bible ? And are 
they content w T ith what they really find ? 

It is because commentators and even private Chris- 
tians have followed an undefined or a shifting purpose, 
or, perhaps, no purpose at all, that they have made such 



SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 1 37 

House-light and light-house. Abraham married Keturah. 

strange endeavors after originality, and have accom- 
plished so little at last. Dr. Hamilton's bright antithe- 
sis is quite in point : " That vessel is always liable to go 
awreck whose headstrong pilot mistakes a house-light 
for a light-house. ,, The one worthy end at which a sin- 
cere Bible student should aim is this : merely to as- 
certain what the word really says and simply means. 
" He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
unto the churches. " 

The motto of the mystics was : " The Scriptures mean 
all that they can be made to mean." The rabbins of old 
said there was not a letter, nor even an apex of a letter, 
which did not contain whole mountains of meaning. 
And so they fashioned anagrams, and counted the tran- 
scribed characters, and estimated the lines, and read the 
sentences backward. Putting everything in, they of 
course drew everything out, finding marvels and mys- 
teries without limit, but quietly often missing the truth, 
or belittling it with nonsense. 

One of the ancient expositors read in the sacred his- 
tory how Abraham in his later years married Keturah. 
Knowing that this woman's name, Keturah, meant " sweet 
odors," and remembering that sweet odors w T ere used as 
a symbol of spiritual graces, he drew from this intricate 
combination of fragments of learning a most felicitously 
original thought ; namely, that before he died the Father 
of the Faithful became supereminently sanctified. Now 
the pious patriarch did what doubtless w r as perfectly 
proper; but taking a new wife in his old age is in 



138 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

The world's " Eureka ! " New Testament privileges. 

many respects quite a different thing from growing in 
grace. 

III. — So much, then, for a discussion of the general 
principle involved in these verses. It remains for us 
now to state just a few of the lessons of excellent bear- 
ing which they suggest. 

1. Let us try to appreciate the exultation of feeling 
with which believers under the Old Testament received 
the fresh disclosures of the New. Andrew opened an 
unusually wide store of exciting information when he 
made his brother Simon Peter understand that in all 
serious likelihood Jesus of Nazareth was Israel's actual 
Messiah. Meaning of untold and indescribable impor- 
tance was condensed into the explosive language he 
used when he announced to him, "We have found the 
Christ!" This was the world's glad "Eureka" after 
forty centuries of groping among the shadows and sym- 
bols of a dying dispensation. " But if the ministration 
of death, written and engraven in stones, w T as glorious, 
so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly be- 
hold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance ; 
which glory was to be done away : how shall not the 
ministration of the spirit be rather glorious? For if 
the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more 
doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory." 

2. So let us ourselves come to a proper estimate of 
our own increased privileges under the New Testament. 
When w T e reach the Gospels, after working our way 
wearily through the first division of the Bible, we seem 



SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 139 

44 We have found the Christ ! " The Old Testament 

to have struggled forth from a forest path of emblems 
and signs, where only lances of fitful illumination could 
glance into the gloom occasionally, out upon the cleared 
hillside of revelation, where the full sunshine of grace 
lies over every prospect. There was one little formula 
of great meaning, drawn from Andrew's exclamation, 
perhaps, which served the strict purpose of a primitive 
creed to all those new disciples, and which might well 
become familiar upon our tongues. Philip took it up 
easily when he proclaimed to Nathanael : "We have 
found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, 
did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." The 
passionate longing of many a generation was concen- 
trated into that one utterance. We have entered into 
a fulness they never knew, now in these latter days. 
" Blessed are the eyes which see the things that ye see. 
For I tell you, that many prophets and kings have de- 
sired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen 
them ; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have 
not heard them." 

3. Still, let us learn to respect the Old Testament for 
the sake of the gospel there certainly was in it. It has 
grown fashionable to speak slightingly of that former 
dispensation. But many souls of men were saved under 
it. Just now we discover from an unmistakable chapter 
here before us that all of that early record was full of 
Christ. Abraham saw the day of Christ afar off, and 
was glad. During four thousand years, never had any 
devout Hebrew mother fastened her first eager look 



I4-0 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

The seed of the woman. Moore's couplet. 

upon her new-born babe without solemnly wondering 
whether it might not be her child which was to be "the 
seed of the woman " to fulfil the Paradise promise and 
"bruise the serpent's head." Those people must have 
known in many particulars what they were praying for. 
The visions of the impetuous seers, the inspired sym- 
bols of the ceremonial law, the fervid predictions of the 
singing psalmists, all pointed toward one luminous star 
which was hanging out in the future over the manger 
where Immanuel should be born. 

4. Think, then, how rich with wealth of spiritual 
meaning are both of these two Testaments that lie in 
our hands so freely to-day. To the glory of the poetry 
add the greater glory of the prediction it contains. To 
the splendor of the ritual, add the greater splendor of 
the Christ it symbolized. So we learn that there are 
verses of the Bible with a double degree of meaning — - 
like the rainbow which is beautiful beyond everything 
else for just what is seen of it, and then more beautiful 
still for the sake of the grand covenant it seals. Oh, 
what reaches and spans of measureless comfort there 
are in such promises ; yet God, who gave them, sits un- 
exhausted in grace beyond ! How well to search the 
Scriptures ! 

" So the sky we look up to, though glorious and fair, 
Is looked up to the more because heaven lies there ! " 

5. Then let us remember what grandeur and majesty 
there is in the services of God's house. If only the 



SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 141 

God's house. Mysteries explained. 

spirit be carefully preserved, forms may well be gor- 
geous and significant. This whole chapter is crowded 
with the meaning that lay hid in the tabernacle. God's 
dwelling should be the finest dwelling in the town. 
Music should make it welcome with the highest conse- 
cration of art. Each Christian should enter a New Tes- 
tament church singing in his heart : " How amiable are 
thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts ! My soul longeth, 
yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my 
heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." And 
he should leave it promising : " If I forget thee, O Je- 
rusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do 
not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of 
my mouth ; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief 
joy." 

6. Finally, let us remember the sanctuary overhead. 
" Via cruets, via lucis ! " So the old monks used to chant 
in mediaeval songs. Through all the shadows, out at 
last into the pure light, does the way lead which starts 
in lonely and lowly steps beside Jesus' cross. The as- 
surance comes with a vast welcome to every tried heart 
that is sometimes heavy here with worry and care. Life 
appears a wilderness of little-understood visions and 
shows. Will these mysteries, like the similitudes of the 
tabernacle, ever have an explanation ? Will the unreal- 
ities which lie over us, even now in New Testament 
times, ever fully disappear ? Will the confusions ever 
clear that make this existence of ours so perplexing ? 
Hear the answer : " But Christ being come an high- 



142 SHADOW AND SUBSTANCE. 

Eternal redemption. Arnold's remark. 

priest of good things to come, by a great and more per- 
fect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not 
of this building : neither by the blood of goats and 
calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into 
the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for 
us." 

With the endless ages of that new life open before us 
for our study and God's explanation, we ought to be 
willing to remain unf retted now. Arnold says well : 
" Before a confessed and unconquerable difficulty, the 
mind, if in a healthy state, reposes as quietly as when 
in the possession of a discovered truth ; as quietly and 
contentedly as we are accustomed to bear that law of 
our nature which denies us the power of seeing through 
all space, or of being exempt from sickness or decay." 
We can afford to wait till all these earthly shadows find 
their substance: " For now we see through a glass, 
darkly ; but then face to face : now I know in part ; but 
then shall I know even as also I am known." 



XIII. 

SAVING FAITH. 

NOW FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE OF THINGS HOPED FOR, THE EVI- 
DENCE OF THINGS NOT SEEN. — Hebrews n : I. 

There were those who one time asked the Saviour, 
"What shall we do that Ave might work the works of 
God ?" To this he replied, " This is the work of God, 
that ye believe on him whom he hath sent." 

The issue, then, between God and men is narrowed 
down to this — " only believe." " He that believeth on 
the Son of God is not condemned ; but he that believ- 
eth not is condemned already, because he hath not be- 
lieved in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." 
Hence, the true and only answer to an inquiring sinner 
is, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt 
be saved." 

No man, however, can be an inquirer except under 
the influence of the Holy Ghost. No man can come 
to Christ "except the Father draw him." If he comes 
asking, that proves that he comes drawn. Hence, the 
folly of those who profess to be waiting for the Spirit 
in order to believe. They have the Spirit ; they are re- 
sisting him, instead of waiting for him, this very moment. 
And hence, the correction, also, of all false views of 
those who deem it perilous to urge on every soul the 



144 SAVING FAITH. 



The Holy Spirit. Historic faith. 

duty of immediate and believing surrender to Christ : 
that is the Spirit's work, it is admitted ; but this is the 
man's duty. He is under the power of the Spirit from the 
moment he asks the way. And we are bound to bid him 
believe and be saved. If he cannot understand it, we 
must explain it. This is what I now am attempting to 
do. 

1. Let us inquire, first, the meaning of the term. 
There are no less than five significations of it found in 
the Bible. 

i. Sometimes the word refers merely to a creed, with 
no notion in it of spiritual experience at all. Thus Paul 
tells his friend Timothy : " Now the Spirit speaketh ex- 
pressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from 
the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines 
of devils." And so writes Jude : " Ye should earnestly 
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto 
the saints." Here the meaning is manifest ; a simple 
grouping of revealed doctrines in a system. 

2. When the Bible speaks of faith, it sometimes means 
mere belief in facts. " Through faith we understand 
that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so 
that things which are seen were not made of things 
which do appear." This kind of faith is necessary, in a 
certain sense, to salvation : "for he that cometh to God 
must believe that he is; and that he is a rewarderof them 
that diligently seek him." The facts of the Saviour's 
life are to be received in that way. But this is not sav- 
ing faith at all. For we read that even the devils "be- 



SAVING FAITH. 145 



Logical faith. Faith of miracles. 

lieve and tremble." They know all about the history 
of the Prince of Salvation, but are not benefited by 
their knowledge. 

3. Again ; faith sometimes means that conviction of 
the understanding which results from proofs laid before 
it, or arguments adduced. This is that which the woman 
wrought among her neighbors when she came back from 
the conversation with Jesus, at Jacob's well : " And many 
of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the 
saying of the woman, which testified, He told me all 
that ever I did." It received great quickening from the 
interviews with the Messiah they had for themselves ; 
for then they " said unto the woman, Now we believe, 
not because of thy saying ; for w r e have heard him our- 
selves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Sav- 
iour of the world." This also is the faith which Thomas 
had, when, being asked- to put his hand in the side of 
his Lord, and his finger in the prints of the nails, he was 
constrained by the evidence to admit the reality of the 
resurrection. " Because thou hast seen," said Jesus to 
him, " thou hast believed." But this is not saving faith ; 
for our Lord immediately added, " Blessed are they that 
have not seen, and yet have believed." 

4. And sometimes the Bible means the faith of mira- 
cles. This was a peculiar gift, bestowed by Christ upon 
his immediate followers, in order that they might attest 
their divine mission by using divine power. This is 
what he intended when he said, " If ye have faith, if ye 
shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and 

7 



146 SAVING FAITH. 



A right apprehension. A drowning man. 

be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done." Now, what- 
ever was the nature of this peculiar endowment, it is 
evident enough that there was no grace in it to save the 
soul; for the Saviour himself declared, " Many will 
say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophe- 
sied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out devils, 
and in thy name have done many wonderful works ? 
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you." 

5. Then, lastly, the Bible means saving faith ; the 
true belief in the Lord Jesus Christ, through which we 
are justified, and by which we live. 

II. In the second place, let us inquire concerning the 
nature of this exercise. The old writers used to say 
that faith was composed of three elements : a right Ap- 
prehension, a cordial Assent, and an unwavering Trust. 
Let me seek to exhibit these in turn in a very familiar 
way. 

1. To apprehend is really a physical act, and means to 
seize hold of. When applied to mental operation, it sig- 
nifies to conceive clearly any given object, and hold it 
before the mind for examination and use. It does not 
always include a full comprehension ; and this is so es- 
pecially true in reference to matters connected with the 
plan of salvation, that I shall seek to have it very expli- 
citly understood here in the outset. A drowning man 
may catch a rope that hangs near him, and be rescued 
by it, without knowing who threw it to him, or who will 
draw it in, or what vessel it trails from. He apprehends 
it, but he does not comprehend it. He sees it, but he 



SAVING FAITH. 147 



Apprehend and comprehend. The brazen serpent. 

does not see all with which it is connected. The fleeing 
Hebrew might not know who erected the guide-posts on 
the way to the cities of refuge, or how they were instru- 
mental in saving him from the avenger of blood when 
he was within the walls. But he would need to see the 
great letters of the word " Refuge " that was printed on 
them, and note the direction in which the index finger 
pointed. 

Now, a careless confounding of these terms has caused 
a great many mistakes on the part of those who declare 
they "will not believe what they cannot understand." 
They are not required to believe what they cannot appre- 
hend ; but they do believe, over and over again, even in 
the common matters of life, what they cannot comprehend. 
The growing of the grass, the circulation of the blood, 
are as complete mysteries to human understanding as 
the doctrine of the Trinity or the Incarnation. I must 
not turn away from coming to the Saviour, because I 
cannot see how God could be manifest in the flesh. 
Enough is it for me, that the Scriptures reveal the mys- 
terious fact that he has been. 

And here you see, therefore, how much any sinner 
can claim before he yields, and how little. He may ask 
just as much information as the Israelite bitten by the 
fiery serpent in the wilderness might ask : " Where is 
that image of brass ? what must I do when I approach 
it?" When Moses had replied, "It is close by you in 
the midst of the camp ; you are only to look and to 
live ■;" then his solemn duty began, and he was respon- 



148 SAVING FAITH, 



Means of grace. Humble assent. 

sible for his own delay. With the philosophy of the 
cure he had nothing to do. 

The two essential things for every man to apprehend, 
are his own need, and Jesus Christ's fitness to supply it. 
There is the inward look, and then there is the outward 
look. I cannot help myself, and the Saviour can help 
me — are the two thoughts that must lie buried deep in 
his soul. It matters little how these things are learned. 
" There are diversities of operations, but the same Spirit." 
The Holy Ghost may teach one person through the read- 
ing of the word ; another person through some stroke 
of providence, or by the ministry of reconciliation. In 
one way or another the soul must come to see its ruin 
and its Redeemer ; to feel its helplessness and know its 
Helper. It may not see how it came to be so desper- 
ately ruined, nor how Jesus can be of such paramount 
relief to it. It may know no more than blind Bartimeus 
did ; that he could not see, and that the Nazarene Healer 
was passing by. Those two things, however, every sin- 
ner needs to perceive. 

2. Then comes the second element of faith, already 
mentioned — namely, assent. This is a step in advance 
of the other. A simple illustration will make plain 
what is meant by it. An invalid is sometimes very un- 
willing to admit his danger, even when he has nothing 
to oppose to the reasoning of one who proves it. He 
feels his weakness, but he resorts to a thousand subter- 
fuges to avoid yielding to the physician. His judgment 
is convinced, but his will is unbroken. He apprehends 



SAVING FAITH. 1 49 



Naaman's pride. " Some great thing." 

his danger, and knows the remedy ; but he refuses to 
be helped. What he needs now is assent ; and this re- 
quires humility and the renunciation of self-will. 

Naaman might not know, and really had no need to 
know — no right to claim to know — how the river Jor- 
dan could cure leprosy, or what virtue there would be 
in seven bathings, or what authority Elisha had to send 
him there. But he needed to understand clearly the 
prophet's directions, so as not to mistake the name of 
the stream, or err as to what he was to do when he 
reached it, or forget the number of times he was to 
wash to be clean. And this he had a fair right to know 
before the crime of disobedience was urged upon him. 
" But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Be- 
hold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and 
stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and 
strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper." 

Evidently, this Syrian captain's pride was wounded. 
He imagined that the prophet was going to show him 
the consideration due to his importance. He did not 
like to be thrown on himself in this way. He would 
not own up his utter helplessness, and the wretchedness 
of his incurable disease. Nor did he like the method 
of relief. He complained of the river ; Jordan water is 
muddy and yellow. " Are not Abana and Pharpar, riv- 
ers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel ? 
may I not wash in them, and be clean ? So he turned 
and went away in a rage." In the end, you remember, 
it was his retinue that helped him make an absolute 



150 SAVING FAITH. 



The Syrophoenician woman. Implicit trust. 

surrender. "And his servant came near, and spake 
unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid 
thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done 
it ? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, 
and be clean ? " 

Faith includes this. It calls for a cheerful submis- 
sion to God's requirements, the moment we apprehend 
them, no matter how humiliating the assertion of our 
ill-desert may be. When the Syrophoenician woman 
came pleading to our Saviour, he gave her faith a most 
severe testing before he granted her petition. " It is 
not meet," he said, "to take the children's bread and 
cast it to the dogs." Now, did she grow angry at this 
rebuff? Did she refuse to admit its justice? Did she 
go away grieved, because he seemed to be harsh to her ? 
No, indeed; she admitted it all. "Truth, Lord," said 
she, "yet the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from their 
master's table." Then he raised her up, saying, "O 
woman, great is thy faith ; be it unto thee as thou wilt." 
She not only saw the truth, but assented to it likewise, 
though the admission was humbling in the extreme. 
And so must the inquiring sinner give assent to all the 
teachings of the gospel, self-abasing as they are ; admit 
everything ; throw up all excuses ; leave all refuges of 
lies ; renounce self altogether ; "only believe." 

3. The third element of saving faith is trust. By this 
I mean reliance on the truth of what God said he would 
do ; a quiet resting on his promises to accomplish all we 
need for salvation. You remember in the case of the 



SAVING FAITH. 151 



The centurion. The Passover. 

centurion, our Lord declared he "had not found so 
great faith, no, not in Israel." Now, what was it that 
made his faith in particular so great, so peculiar in it- 
self, and so superior in the estimation of the Saviour ? 
Simply the presence in it of superabounding trust. He 
had asked for a gift of healing to be bestowed upon his 
servant lying at home sick. To his request Jesus re- 
plied, "I will come and heal him." One would think 
that now the centurion would doubt a little. Might not 
the Saviour forget his promise in the multiplicity of his 
cares ? Might he not delay corning till too late ? Even 
this suspicion made his trust a matter of somewhat diffi- 
cult exercise ; and yet that man was willing to go fur- 
ther. He was content to rest on a mere declaration, 
without a promise. "Speak the w T ord only," said he, 
"and my servant shall be healed." He did not care to 
have the Saviour's presence, if he would only say the 
man should be whole. Then he could depart to his 
house restful and satisfied. 

Let us take one more illustration ; that which is of- 
fered in the ancient passover scene. Moses told the Is- 
raelites to sprinkle a lamb's blood on the door-posts, 
and the destroying angel would not enter their dwell- 
ings. Picture a father, whose first-born was dear to 
him as the apple of his eye. As that solemn midnight 
drew near, it is possible his heart would grieve with anx- 
iety. But he would say aloud : "I have done all I was 
told to do ; I know the blood-drops are on my door ; I 
rest in Moses* promise, for I am sure he spoke for God ; 



152 SAVING FAITH. 



" Only believe." General experience. 

here, then, I take my stand, and am going to wait the 
issue ; there is no more to do ! " 

This is trust ; acquiescence without question, restful- 
ness -without wavering ; and it is the most essential part 
of faith, and yet the most difficult to exercise. Almost 
all in our Christian communities have two of the ele- 
ments of faith already mentioned. They know the Sav- 
iour's history. They understand his gospel plan. They 
have been told his ability and his willingness to save 
them. A first step then, apprehension, has been taken. 
And so has a second, assent, been taken by very many. 
They do not doubt one word that God has spoken. 
They feel their ruin. They are under a constant con- 
viction of sin. They admit everything. Now, what yet 
do they need ? Nothing except this third step, trust j 
"only believe." Rely on the Saviour. Rest in him. 
Hold to his truth in all he says. 

III. The use to be made of this analysis, comes next 
to view. We are ready to speak to any inquiring sinner 
within our reach directly, and this is what the Scriptures 
teach us to say. 

Your experience hitherto has been something like 
this. You have seen your need ; you have admitted it ; 
you have gone in prayer to Jesus confessing it. Told 
to pray, you did pray. Moved by some faithful sermon, 
or tract, or conversation, you have gone home to the 
privacy of your own chamber, making sober resolution 
to become a Christian at once. You knew you had 
been a sinner, condemned to eternal death. .You as- 



SAVING FAITH. I 53 



The failure. Bargaining with God. 

sented to all that the word of God charged on you. 
And you longed to be helped. Told to confess, you did 
confess. Told you must be in earnest, you honestly 
think you laid your whole heart bare before God. You 
acknowledged everything, and only plead for pardon. 
You said in your prayer, "O Lord, I am vile, I come to 
thee ; I plead thy promise that thou wilt not cast me 
out ; I give myself aw T ay in an everlasting surrender ; I 
leave my soul at the very foot of the cross ! " And then 
you rose from your knees, murmuring, " Oh, I am no 
better ; I feel just the same as before ! " 

You saw that you had made a failure. Now, where 
was the lack ? Simply in the particular of trust You 
would not take Jesus at his word. He had said, " Him 
that cometh unto me I will in no wdse cast out." So 
you plead with him. You came unto him, but you in- 
sist that he did cast you out after all. 

You said — here I am ; and then you drew back. You 
said — I give myself to thee ; and then you took yourself 
aw^ay again. You trifled with God. You should have 
left yourself there, and trusted your soul with him, as 
you said you would. Let me suggest to you where your 
disappointment was centred. I think I can tell you 
what you half-expected, half-bargained, on the spot. 

If some clear voice had only spoken to you as you 
kneeled, saying, " Thy sins be forgiven thee ; go in 
peace," how your heart would have leaped for joy. If 
you could only have seen Paul's " great light," that 
w T ould have confirmed you. Or if even some aged min- 
7* 



154 SAVING FAITH. 



A sign wanted. Faith, not sight. 

ister had bent over and vhispered in your ear, "You 
are received, I am sure," chen you would perhaps have 
been satisfied, and begun tremblingly to hope. But be- 
cause you had nothing of this, not even a sign without, 
or a strange feeling within, that you could make to an- 
swer for a sign, you were discouraged. Now, I have 
three remarks to make about this action of yours, and 
its result. 

In the first place, let me say, I would not have been 
the minister to tell you of your acceptance, for all the 
world. For then you wouM have believed in me, not in 
the Saviour. No man has any right to say such a thing 
to you. I have seen those who in revival times will 
question and direct for a while, and then say to young 
persons, "All right, you ara converted ! " and my blood 
has run cold. They know lothing about it. 

In the second place, let me tell you that you never 
will have any such sign, w'thout or within, to be your 
confirmation. If God evei gives anything of the sort, 
it will only be afterward, fo- your comfort. " We walk 
by faith, not by sight;" aid this would be sight, not 
faith. God does not deal with men so. He claims that 
they shall trust him without speaking. If you stand off, 
saying in your heart, I will believe the moment I feel 
accepted, you will never be accepted. You must trust, 
and ask no favors. Then God will give you what he 
pleases. And most likely, one day or another, he will 
give you some token of his love that will aid you ; but 
he never will, if you bargain for it. 



SAVING FAITH. 155 



Bird-of-paradise. No more anxiety. 

Go again then ; do not wait, nor grieve, nor bargain, 
nor doubt. Do not reply to me, "Oh, I have done all 
I can over and over again ; and it is of no use." There 
is one thing you can do, that you never have done yet. 
You can trust the Saviour. So I say again, and keep 
saying to you, " Only believe." 

In the third place, let me say, that if this sign were 
given you, it would be the most dangerous thing for 
you that could be conceived. Because then you would 
trust the sign, and not the Saviour. Perhaps you have 
read that story of the woman, told in the "Pastor's 
Sketches," who saw a beautiful bird-of-paradise on a 
blue globe, and believed it w r as the evidence God had 
sent to show her she was born again. Are you sur- 
prised to find that when she was asked for her ground 
of salvation, she had to tell all about that ridiculous 
dream the very first thing ? So would you, if you had 
any such folly in your mind. And by and by you would 
wake to the consciousness that only Jesus can save your 
soul, and you had been deceiving yourself all this time. 

When you have given yourself to Christ, leave your- 
self there, and go about your work as a child in his 
household. When he has undertaken your salvation, 
rest assured he will accomplish it, without any of 
your anxiety, or any of your help. There remains 
enough for you to do, with no concern for this part of 
the labor. 

Let me illustrate this posture of mind as well as I 
can. A shipmaster was once out for three nights in a 



156 SAVING FAITH. 



Shipmaster and pilot. Burden lost. 

storm ; close by the harbor, he yet dared not attempt to 
go in, and the sea was too rough for the pilot to come 
aboard. Afraid to trust the less experienced sailors, he 
himself stood firmly at the helm. Human endurance 
almost gave way before the unwonted strain. Worn 
with toil, beating about ; worn yet more with anxiety 
for his crew and cargo ; he was well-nigh relinquishing 
the wheel, and letting all go awreck, when he saw the 
little boat coming, with the pilot. At once that hardy 
sailor sprang on the deck, and with scarcely a word took 
the helm in his hand. The captain went immediately 
below, for food and for rest ; and especially for comfort 
to the passengers, who were weary with apprehension. 
Plainly now his duty was in the cabin ; the pilot would 
care for the ship. Where had his burden gone ? The 
master's heart was as light as a schoolboy's ; he felt 
no pressure. The pilot, too, seemed perfectly uncon- 
cerned ; he had no distress. The great load of anxiety 
had gone forever ; fallen in some way or other between 
them. 

Now turn this figure. We are anxious to save our 
soul, and are beginning to feel more and more certain 
that we cannot save it. Then comes Jesus, and under- 
takes to save it for us. We see how willing he is ; we 
know how able he is ; there we leave it. We let him do 
it. We rest on his promise to do it. We just put that 
work in his hands to do all alone ; and we go about 
doing something else ; self-improvement, comfort to 
others, doing good of every sort. He feels no burden. 



SAVING FAITH. I 57 



The pilot needs no help. Leave all to Christ. 



What troubled us so, does not trouble him. All we 
need to do is to hold our confidence firm. What if that 
captain should keep running up to see if the pilot was 
still there ; or to offer to help him ; or to make sugges- 
tions ; would it not be folly ? So, for us to keep dis- 
tressing ourselves about salvation when we have given 
all that work to Christ, is worse than folly ; it is doubt- 
ing the Saviour, slighting his love, giving up trust in him 
just as we begin it. 

When I find, my inquiring friend, that you are dis- 
turbed because you have no word nor sign, although 
you have asked God to forgive you and give you a new 
heart, I can only say to you, trust him for that. I have 
two plain reasons : he never told a lie, and he surely 
said, "Ask whatsoever you will ;" and you have asked 
of him the very thing he desired most earnestly to give 
you. 

There, then, is the direction found in a word ; yet, 
oh, how full of meaning it is ! "Be not afraid ; only be- 
lieve!" For "faith is the substance of things hoped 
for, the evidence of things not seen." 



XIV. 

PURE RELIGION. 

Pure religion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is 
this : to visit the fatherless and widows in their af- 
fliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. 
— James I : 27. 

At first sight this text looks bad. It seems subversive 
of all our theologies, and ethics also. For it appears 
really to say to any one, who is anxious about his soul's 
eternal interests : " Take generous care of poor people, 
especially of women who have lost their husbands, and 
of children who have been left orphans ; behave your- 
self decently ; do as well as you know" how to keep from 
being worldly ; and all will come out right in the end ; 
you will be saved and safe in heaven." 

And that is what the apostle does not think of saying, 
and it is not true either. A notion so radically wrong 
is a dangerous thing. It is the staff of a bruised reed, 
on which if a man lean, it will certainly go into his hand 
and pierce it. 

The fact is, this text of ours is in no respect the sim- 
ple formula of definition it looks like. It has a profound 
start, and takes a prodigious reach. And the only way 
to compass the extraordinary height to which it goes, is 
to climb patiently up the rounds of the ladder one by 



PURE RELIGION. I 59 



Only one religion. A poetic scheme. 

one. Let us begin at the beginning, and read its clauses 
quietly over together ; there is a lesson in each. 

I. "Pure religion and undenled." Stop, now, just 
there. The first proposition found in the verses is this : 
There can be only one true personal religion for 
the human soul. 

1. Some argue for a mere intellectual scheme of be- 
lief. They would rest everything upon a certain fixed 
group of articles of faith and practice. Here is where 
our denominational systems come in. Sects may have 
some advantages, but the bearing of them does not seem 
to be in this direction certainly. What sort of differ- 
ence does it make as to my visiting the widows and 
fatherless of a given neighborhood, whether I have been 
baptized in one way or in another, whether I was or- 
dained by the laying on of hands of one person or three ? 
The Christian religion has a creed of doctrines, and has 
a code of morals ; but it is a life. And in the end it 
will be found, most likely, that the Lord has had his 
own people scattered around a good deal from first to 
last. 

2. Some persistently press a mere poetic scheme of 
humane sympathy. There are many persons one meets 
constantly in this soft and cultured age, whose religious 
life might be covered with a single word ; it consists of 
an amiable, vague kind of morality. It begins with a 
sigh, " Oh, I wish I could be good ! " It continues with 
a song, " Nearer, my God, to thee ! " But it feels no 
sense of sin, and confesses none ; so it generally rejects 



l6o PURE RELIGION. 



Goodishness. Mere philanthropy. 

need of an atonement. It seems just a sweet, deep good- 
ishness. 

3. Some would urge upon us a mere routine scheme 
of ritual. This is little more than sentiment become 
artistic, devotion transmuted into devoteeism. Emotion 
is externalized into forms and ceremonies. It luxuriates 
in festivals and fasts. With intricate taste it chooses 
colors of vestments and fashions of robes. And by and 
by it exhausts its feeble little force in fierce discussion 
as to whether the prayers of a penitent people would be 
offered better in a service in D minor or in E flat. 

4. Some seek to present us with an ascetic scheme of 
moral observance. Of course, at its highest development, 
this ends in the cell of a hermit, and the white veil of a 
nun. But as we meet it in ordinary life, it goes not much 
farther than rigor of law — an iron rule of obedience to 
precept — and a strict treasuring of tradition. A man 
says he purposes to keep the Sabbath as his father did 
before him ; at all events, his children shall ; at any 
rate, they shall keep still. And it all seems to amount 
to pretty much the same thing. Religion is hold- 
ing-in. 

5. Some insist on a scheme of mere philanthropy and 
benevolence. One can hardly wonder that many a man 
grows confused and stumbles among such varying sys- 
tems ; and, after a feeble inquiry, settles back upon the 
conclusion that kindness, liberality, and neighborly 
offices, are about as near religion as anything else. If 
such people knew there was a verse like ours in the 



PURE RELIGION. l6l 



Who shall decide? Jehu and Jehonadab. 

Bible, they would flaunt it as the very motto on their 
banner — till they learned what it meant. 

II. How is a man to choose ? Who shall decide when 
all differ so ? That leads us on a step, and we return 
again to the text. " Pure religion, and undefiled before 
God and the Father, is this." The next proposition 
may be stated thus : — The standard of reference, up 

TO WHICH ALL RELIGION MUST BE BROUGHT, IS DIVINE. 

i. It will not do to settle it by the opinion of others. 
No man's personal piety can be registered according to 
the estimate which even his best friends or worst en- 
emies have of it. Yet, we must reach some sort of ad- 
justment in our association with each other ; that is 
true. It is reported of Chalmers, that while listening 
to the converse of McCheyne and Burns and the Bo- 
nars, and hearing them say, " Precious Jesus" so much, 
he exclaimed, "A most excellent brotherhood of men, 
if only they might have done with their nursery endear- 
ments ! " We call all of them — Chalmers and the rest — 
the saintliest of God's people ; but to them he appeared 
hard, and to him they appeared soft, yet they bore with 
each other. Thus wrote Wesley, quoting the cheerful 
conversation between Jehonadab and Jehu : " ' Is thine 
heart right, as my heart is with thy heart? If it be, 
give me thine hand/ I do not mean, Be of my opin- 
ion ; thou needest not ; neither do I mean, I wall be of 
thine opinion ; I cannot. Let all opinions alone ; give 
me thine hand."' 

2. Nor will it do that one's religion be settled by him- 



l62 PURE RELIGION. 



Self-deception. The Lord is judge. 

self. The verse in connection with our text gives a 
somewhat pertinent warning. " If any man among you 
seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but 
deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." 
Here comes out the doctrine that one may seem to be 
religious — may thus deceive his own heart — and in the 
end his religion prove to be valueless. Thousands of 
years ago, the wisest person that ever lived, declared, 
" There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the 
end thereof are the ways of death." Any one can easily 
make a foolish and perilous mistake, just by thinking 
more highly of himself than he ought to think, and so 
be lost. 

3. All this matter must be, and certainly will be, set- 
tled by God's opinion, and none other whatsoever. No 
less authority than that of an inspired apostle has put 
on record this compact statement of the whole truth : 
" But with me it is a very small thing that I should be 
judged of you, or of man's judgment ; yea, I judge not 
mine own self : for I know nothing by myself ; yet am I 
not hereby justified : but he that judgeth me is the 
Lord." The instrument employed by divine wisdom is 
clearly made known beforehand to us all. Up to the 
unerring and unequivocal statements of God's word are 
we to bring all our maxims, all our experiences, all our 
activities, all our creeds. If any man, young or old, 
wishes to " cleanse his way," he is to "give heed there- 
to, according to the word." Conscience is regal and 
supreme ; but conscience must be educated and enlight- 



PURE RELIGION. 163 

The Word tests. The weak and lonely. 

ened by inspiration. " For the word of God is quick, 
and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 
and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the 
thoughts and intents of the heart." 

III. We are ready to read on now somewhat further 
in the text. " Pure religion, and undefiled before God 
and the Father, is this : To visit the fatherless and wid- 
ows in their affliction. ,, That is enough, and the new 
thought runs thus : The test of all true personal 

RELIGION MAY BE FOUND IN CARE FOR THE WEAK AND 
LONELY. 

i. The subjects of Christian charity mentioned here 
are typal as well as specific. > One mighty question 
presses on this age of ours — what shall the strong do for 
the weak ? Out of all classes of feeble people, the un- 
protected, and the helpless, God has chosen for our no- 
tice widows and orphans.. The most trying condition 
in this world is brought to mind. A woman from whom 
has been taken the staff and stay of her life, is one of 
the most pitiable objects of human sympathy. She has 
all the wounded feeling which any other mourner has, 
and yet is constrained to repress it. And beyond even 
that, she has the practical prospect of dubious self-sup- 
port in the future. And a lonely mother, with father- 
less children, is not only a living appeal for assistance 
and succor, but a thorough and exhaustive type, by 
which to teach the lesson that a true man's piety must 
be tested by the care he accepts for others. 



164 PURE RELIGION, 



Occasions for help. Proper Shipwrecks. 



2. But when is this duty binding ? That brings out 
the occasion. The text says, "in their affliction," that is, 
in the time of it, and in the place of it. Our help must 
be given when our help is needed. Consider times of 
narrowness, of panic, of business depression, as offering 
special occasion. 

Then the poor are poorer than ever. And yet then 
our craven, greedy human nature is most inclined to run 
to cover. People begin to retrench, because of close 
markets ; but who feel close markets the most ? When 
it seems as if we had nothing to spare ; when all time of 
leisure is exhausted ; when one's brain is heavy with 
overwork ; then our first impulse is to draw aside from 
labor among the poor. But the slenderest philosophy 
ought to be enough to show that these are the very oc- 
casions above all others w T hen the need is most pressing. 
What we feel some, the poor feel more. 

What if some cautious sailor on a vessel of relief, as 
they drift near a sinking wreck, should coolly reply, 
when the captain ordered him into the life-boat, " It is 
always hard enough to go out in the w T ater to save peo- 
ple ; to-night the sea is stormier than usual ; it is really 
dangerous to think of leaping overboard now; these bil- 
lows are extraordinarily high ; the air is chilly, too ; and 
then, look ! the ocean is positively full of drowning men 
and women ; folks say that drowning females will drag 
one right under most thoughtlessly ; it is dreadful to 
think of it ; why do not people shipwreck themselves in 
the daytime, and in warm weather, and in quiet oceans ? 



PURE RELIGION. 16; 



Jonathan's staff. The word " visit." 

It is as much as any wise seaman can do now to take 
care of himself, and keep ordinarily comfortable till the 
storm slacks somewhat ! " 

3. The method of bestowing help is next in order, and 
is all found in one word of the text, " visit." That can- 
not mean mere contribution of money ; it means per- 
sonal contact with those we hope to benefit. So plain a 
statement allows of no sort of evasion. It signifies 
going to see widows and fatherless under their roofs, if 
they have any ; in the street, in the by-ways and hedges, 
wherever they are to be found. The vexed question of 
societies is up at once for discussion, but we cannot go 
into it now. It was never expected that Christians 
would hand bread to each other as Jonathan ate honey 
off the end of a staff. The primal purpose of the gos- 
pel was to render men brothers of the same great house- 
hold. 

" Ye are living epistles, known and read of all men." 
It is not expected that the poor will be satisfied with a 
general copy of the epistles, lithographed for promis- 
cuous distribution. The one grand obstacle to all prop- 
er endeavor is found at the present day in the actual 
withdrawal of living heart from living heart in mutual 
acquaintance and interest. Men discharge that wonder- 
ful word — visit — in mere reluctant substitution of dead 
coin in benefaction. Thus the poor grow greedy and 
thankless, and the rich harden in selfish ease. 

4. But how far in such matters is one expected really 
to go ? That inquiry is answered in our text also ; the 



1 66 PURE RELIGION. 



The fatherhood of God. " Unspotted." 

measure of obligation is quite clear. The singular ex- 
pression in the early part of the verse finds its explana- 
tion just here. The term " Father" answers to the 
term " fatherless." That may be a reason why the two 
names " God and the Father," are joined together, as if 
they specified two persons. The significant lesson is 
taught us that religion is to be tested by feeling for the 
fatherless, and the feeling is to be measured by the fath- 
erhood of God ! 

Now, I would be willing, if challenged seriously, to 
put Christianity to proof on that ! Where is the man 
w r ho has ever been, in philanthropy, or humanitarian 
effort, a parent to the poor, with a fatherly care and pa- 
tience and persistence to be measured by the fatherhood 
of the Father of Lights ! 

IV. Only on one condition can this ever be done ; this 
is found in the final clause of the text. See now how 
all the clauses come in together. " Pure religion, and 
undefiled before God and the Father, is this : To visit 
the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep 
himself unspotted from the world." Here is our last 
lesson to-day : Personal religion demands the entire 

SURRENDER AND SEPARATION OF THE SOUL TO CHRIST. 

" Unspotted from the world." Oh, how much that 
means ! No self ; no waiting for applause ; no expec- 
tation of return ; all this is of the world, worldly, and 
the true religion will have none of it. Of course, then, 
we all see this entire verse is addressed to Christians. 
Only thus can it be counted a definition. The text says 



PURE RELIGION. 167 



Humanitarianism. Mediaeval legend. 

that religion, " pure and undefiled," is for a converted 
man ; for an unconverted man it says nothing. But an- 
other text says, " Seek ye first the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness." His duty is to repent of his sins, 
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ ; then it is his duty 
to care for the poor and weak. Humanitarianism has 
nothing it does not borrow from religion. Success in 
all its enterprises would be secured better, the moment 
the soul of the worker puts on Christ as a penitent be- 
liever. Duty demands the new life by the cross. Has 
this ever been done ? Yes. Almost, at any rate, by 
many fine sweet lives in history. Some few, even in 
Sardis, there were, who did not defile their garments. 
And at all events, one noble life there has been that ful- 
filled every condition. Jesus Christ set the example. 
" If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none 
of his." 

Will there be no end to this ? Is a man's work for the 
poor never to be met ? Is the contribution-box an im- 
mortal institution in the churches ? Ah, just here comes 
out the profoundest teaching of the gospel ! No end 
can there be; "The poor ye have with you always." 
And he who puts on Christ, puts on also the burden of 
Christ. You will remember this the better, perhaps, if 
you rehearse the mediaeval legend once more, the story 
of Christopheros. 

He was a giant man of Canaan, Offero by name. He 
wanted to serve the strongest leader in the world, and 
found a mighty king, who took him in his army. One 



I 68 PURE RELIGION. 

'* For the dear Lord's sake." Christopheros. 

day the king's minstrel sang for his master, and when 
he happened to mention the name of Satan, the listen- 
ing monarch crossed himself as if in fear. Offero saw 
it, and left his service, seeking Satan. Oh, soon enough 
he found him, with his great train of war, and lust, and 
pestilence, devastating all the world ! He became Satan's 
soldier. And yet he perceived Satan would not be forced 
ever to march up a road where stood a shrine with the 
infant Jesus in it. So he left that service, seeking for 
Jesus. He could not find him. But an old hermit said, 
" Go down by the river, and ferry the weak and weary 
across." So he labored season after season, saying all 
the time, " For the dear Lord's sake ; will he never come 
to me ! " And one night it stormed, and he heard the 
voice of a little child, "Come, carry me over!" He 
went forth. How the wind blew, and the water roared ? 
But he lifted the little one — oh, most beautiful boy — on 
his shoulder, and entered the stream. He staggered at 
the second step. He just managed to get to the other 
bank. " O my child," exclaimed he, " who art thou ? " 
And the child answered him, "I am Jesus." But the 
burly giant continued, " Yet why so heavy, for it seemed 
to me thou wouldst have borne me off my feet ! " Then 
the beautiful boy held down his hand with a great globe 
in its little palm : "There," he said, "see what you car- 
ried ! He who bears the Lord Jesus on his heart, bears also 
the ivor Id Jesus holds on his hand ! " Then he called Offero, 
Christopheros, which means Bearer of Christ. 



XV. 

FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, 
nor uncircumcision ; but faith which worketh by love.— • 

Galatians 5 : 6. 

A great many bewildered persons have asserted, first 
and last, that the apostle Paul was in violent theological 
conflict with the apostle James. For he seems to say 
that a man can be justified by faith only, and without 
w r orks at all. While James says that faith without 
works is dead, and a man may be justified by works, 
and not in absolutely every case is he justified "by faith 
only. 

Now, all truth is consistent. These inspired men never 
meant to come into collision in their views. Their strong 
language must be interpreted with some intelligible lim- 
itation in order to avoid even seeming contradiction. 
James wrote for a class of persons in his day w T ho had 
been wont to dwell overmuch on the more spiritual fea- 
tures of religion, and so forget the more practical. He, 
therefore, intends through all his epistle to bring into 
prominence the necessity of living up to one's profes- 
sions of piety, even in minor moralities. Paul, on the 
other hand, waiting to a very different class of persons, 
who were continually in danger of throwing their whole 



170 FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

Paul and James. David's counsel. 

dependence upon a pharisaical performance of mere 
punctilios of outward duty required by law, was con- 
strained to turn the force of his address more directly 
upon deep experimental elements of piety, and give 
them new pictures of heart-service in the inner life. 

Hence the entire statements of both these men are 
right. Religion is not a faith distinct from works, nor 
works separate from a faith. It includes and demands 
each of these, and both at once. 

It will command acceptance instantly, then, when one 
urges that every true life needs these two elements ; but 
it might give a measure of quiet surprise to assert in the 
same breath that yet there is necessary something quite 
beyond both faith and works for the completion of the 
whole pattern set before us in Christ. 

Personal religion consists of three things in one. There 
is in it a form of intelligence, first ; then there is in it a 
form of activity ; then there is in it a form of feeling. 
Hence it covers in each case the whole manhood — the 
head, the hand, and the heart. 

Very frequently the word of God, in its artless and 
colloquial language, speaks of one of these elements as 
if it embraced all the rest. Texts can even be found in 
which two of them are put in place of the three. Once, 
at least, in the Old Testament are they all three included. 
David gave this as dying counsel for his son : " And thou, 
Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and 
serve him with a perfect heart, and with a willing mind : 
for the Lord searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all 



FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. IJl 

Three elements. Belief and trust. 



the imaginations of the thoughts : if thou seek him, he 
will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake him, he will 
cast thee off forever." Here we find all elements as- 
sumed : "know" God, and "serve" him with a "per- 
fect heart." That is, piety demands a creed, a work, and 
a sentiment. 

In the New Testament, also, we find one fragment of 
a verse so felicitous and terse that it might well become 
a motto for Christian living : " Faith which worketh by 
love." All three elements are included here likewise — 
intelligence, activity, and affection. 

Unfortunately for absolute clearness, the word " faith " 
has been used in the Bible somewhat ambiguously. I do 
not suppose we are to understand James as referring to 
a creed only, when he puts the sharp question, "What 
doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath 
faith, and have not works ? Can faith save him ? " But 
I feel sure that he does not refer to an experience only. 
Perhaps it would be safe to say that he uses the term 
generically, and seeks to include trust as a living bond 
of union to Christ, and belief as an instrument for 
the intelligent apprehension of truth in its due rela- 
tions. 

At any rate, to be religious each man must have some 
creed. Certainly he must know and believe that there 
is a God ; and he must understand his character as a just 
as well as a beneficent being ; then he must become ac- 
quainted with God's law, as holy and decisive, reaching 
to the inmost intents of the heart ; and then, far above 



172 FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

Faith must "work. 1 * James' "pure religion.'* 

everything else, he must be forced to see plainly that — 
out of his sovereign grace — God has opened a way of 
pardon through an atoning death of his own Son. These 
must be known as primal truths under the gospel ; then 
they must be believed, and that is faith. 

Hence, next to this comes activity : faith must "work." 
The earliest instinct of a redeemed soul is that of the 
converted apostle: "Lord, w T hat wilt thou have me 
do ? " We have duties to do which involve worship of 
God, labors for men, and improvement of a spiritual 
life in ourselves ; these demand energy and zeal. We 
are to keep up a filial communication with God. Then 
we are bidden to seek our neighbors good : feeding 
the poor by the wayside ; succoring the feeble ; comfort- 
ing the troubled ; cheering the discouraged ; in a word, 
giving a warm hand and a sympathetic ear to every 
voice of human sorrow, every call of human need. Just 
so we owe our own selves something. We are bound to 
grow in grace ; and that implies study, discipline, and 
cultivation. With all these, we must guard against con- 
tamination of worldliness. It is as if saints were daily 
dressed in whitest raiment, and were forced to pass 
through the dinginess and dust of a defiled roadway. 
We are to keep these garments of grace fastidiously 
pure ; to protect them against the falling flakes and 
drifting ashes. Hence we come back exactly to another 
verse of James, w T hich may go alongside of Paul's motto. 
Faith w T orking by love is pure religion ; and "Pure re- 
ligion, and undefiled before God and the Father, is this, 



FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 1 73 

Must be some sensibility. The Master's spirit. 

To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and 
to keep himself unspotted from the world." 

Now, I am persuaded that the link between these two 
elements, faith and works, is found in that other ele- 
ment, feeling. Faith alone is not enough. Faith work- 
ing is not enough. Faith is to continue working by 
love. And that is enough, simply because it is all there 
is of it. There must be some sensibility, some tender- 
ness, some emotion, some mellowness of heart, in all 
personal religion, or it will be chill and lifeless and un- 
attractive. It will neither honor God, nor win men, 
nor fit us for heaven. This must be what James means 
when he says, ."faith without works is dead" And it all 
grows easy to understand, if we go right along in order. 
Faith is necessary to salvation, and works are necessary 
to faith ; so, of course, there is a sense in which works 
are necessary to salvation ; for faith without works 
would be defective and lifeless. 

It would seem as if a true Christian could not possibly 
live a moment without experiencing the promptings of 
these new feelings within. Satisfied that God is faith- 
ful, and that Christ is in earnest, the believer imbibes 
his Master's spirit. He enters into an actual joyous re- 
pose of soul. All his powers are reduced to obedience 
to law and are working under rules of harmony and na- 
turalness. He has suddenly come back to spiritual 
health ; and, like all convalescents, feels generous and 
agreeable, glad to meet and to make a world full of 
friends. Sin is forgiven and the curse removed from 



174 - FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

The stormless sky. Symmetry in religion. 

his soul. There may be a few clouds of old wrath still 
hanging over his head ; but the storm is in full retreat, 
and the thunders already growing distant are no longer 
for him to hear. And through many a little rift among 
their folds his eye at times gains glimpses of the pure, 
blue, stormless sky beyond them. Now and then, there 
comes a ray of serene sunshine, so warm and fresh, so 
bright and gladdening, that he lifts his heart in child- 
like greeting unto him who sent it, and thankfully mur- 
murs, " My Lord and my God ! " 

The thing seems almost inconceivable, therefore, that 
there should anybody try to cherish a faith which is all 
intellectuality, or an activity which is all bustle, or a 
love which is all gushing. For the symmetry of real 
religion is its most noble characteristic. Such a man 
as it necessitates will be all the more a man because 
of its possession. There will be in him no mere cold, 
crispy orthodoxy ; though he certainly will have a faith. 
There will be in him no stiffness of routine or ritual 
drill ; though he certainly will be found working in 
worship. There will be in him no soft sentimentalism 
that exhausts itself in singing ; though he will joy 
quietly in the Lord when the day's labor is over. But 
there will be in him a living personality of the indwell- 
ing Christ. 

It is awful for men to pervert piety into pressure, and 
turn grace into grip ; and no sanctimoniousness of unc- 
tuous talk can apologize for it. Pure, sweet sunshine in 
God's vineyard was nevqr intended to dry up and harden 



FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 175 

The work of a vine. Sailor saving men. 

the vines into wire, as if their whole autumn work con- 
sisted in climbing a trellis or strangling a tree. It is 
meant to swell out fresh buds and broaden new branches ; 
to warm up the leaves and render more succulent the 
tendrils ; and by and by, in the time thereof, to kindle 
the clusters with luminous purple, and flash their myste- 
rious juices into wine. 

Indeed, indeed, what this poor, lost, weary world 
needed, on the night when the Bethlehem angels sang, 
was not so much Christianity as it was Christ ! And 
what this waiting, w T istful race wants here and needs 
to-day is not so much a religion as it is some religious 
men ; not so much Christ in creed and Christ in miracle, 
as it is Christ in love, Christ in life, whole, human, and 
humane ! 

Let us look now for a picture that shall exhibit results, 
as this true religion pushes itself out into realization. 
What shall be our simile ? What sort of life would that 
be which mingles in proper proportion faith and works, 
and makes faith work by love ? 

Let us suppose a sailor on the beach seeking to bring 
ashore passengers from a wrecked ship. He is protected 
by a rope fastened around his waist, and held firmly by 
some one behind him. 

Let us imagine a miner at the edge of a shaft, de- 
termined to rescue some of his comrades down under- 
ground, stifling in the fire-damp. He bends over the 
awful chasm safely, for there is a rope under his arm- 
pits, which is fastened securely to the windlass behind. 



176 FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

The rope of faith. Working actually. 

Let us think of a fireman upon a ladder, from which 
he seeks to be swung over into the window of a blazing 
house, in order just to snatch a child out of the flames 
before they mount to the attic. He is girded by a rope, 
held by the people behind him on the neighboring roof, 
so as to keep him in case the floor is swept away. 

Simple pictures all of these, the peculiarities of which 
are the same — a dangerous service and a secured help. 
You see how I must insist upon the rope as quite the 
main thing to start w T ith. 

This is the faith we have been talking about. In all 
spiritual exposures, the Christian relies on a strength 
not his own. Every human being that goes forth after 
a soul is held by a man just behind him ; and that man 
here is Jesus Christ. And the simple difference between 
Christian life and all other life lies in this — a Christian 
life exists, acts, and grows entirely by a living faith. 

With this hint, cannot even the youngest child go 
straight on with the analysis of the motto ? Works come 
next to faith ; the mere glance at our pictures will tell 
where those enter. The sailor stands on the beach-rock, 
the miner stands on the shaft-edge, the fireman stands 
on the ladder-rung ; but standing is not working. What 
would you have these people do ? You answer easily. 
Let that sailor forget himself, trust the rope, plunge into 
the water, and every instant catch hold of some new 
swimmer, struggling in his agony. Let that miner set 
loose the clog on the w T indlass, trust the rope, and rattle 
down into the depths with a leap for life from ledge to 



FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 177 

Gentleness. Wistful, pitiful love. 



ledge, looking for smothering men. Let that fireman 
wait not a moment, but trust the rope, spring through 
the shivered glass of the chamber, and be off on his 
errand in the smoke. No time is to be lost. It is no 
boys' play this ! nor is saving souls boys' play. 

And then comes the love — ^oh, word of inexhaustible 
meaning ! That demands tenderness and anxiety, brave 
deed, and cool purpose. Look over at our pictures 
again. Let that sailor be on his guard, as he grasps 
any one in the water by the necklace or the hair. So 
let that miner fold his arms gently around the form of 
his old comrade. He could bear buffets and banter 
once ; but he is not in condition now. Kept carefully 
and touched kindly, he may yet breathe again. Let 
that fireman cover his coat over the young child's nos- 
trils ; nor, however he may feel his own flesh shrivel in 
the heat, suffer one tongue of flame so much as to curl 
the hair on its forehead. For all these human beings, 
you see, are down now to barest existence ; but they are 
still alive y and must be treated tenderly. 

Can we not discern, then, where the lack is in most 

of these modern types of religion ? Our lack is not so 

much in the element of intelligence as in the other two, 

feeling and activity ; and in feeling most of all. There 

seems a want of earnest, wistful, pitiful love for the 

souls of our fellow-men. There is too little delicate 

sympathy for human weakness in our clumsy effort to 

relieve it. We do not respect the solemn reserves of 

each soul as we push, in the presence of others, the 
8* 



1/8 FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 

Kissing a shadow. Unromantic duties. 

probes of our questioning into its wounds. Souls are 
solitary when they wrestle with God's angel. They do 
not give their trust easily, and never unless they know 
it is to a true friend. 

Remember that some of us have supreme advantage 
in this respect. " God is love ; and he that dwelleth in 
love dwelleth in God, and God in him." That is true 
for all, and yet not every one sees it. " And we have 
known and believed the love that God hath to us." Oh, 
yes ! we have known and believed God's love ; but men 
who hear only rough, quick words from our lips cannot 
believe in ours. We must make them reach confidence 
in the sincerity of our affection by supreme endeavor of 
patient forbearance and regard. Think of the faith that 
old Crimean soldier had in Florence Nightingale, when 
he lifted his aching body up just to kiss her shadow as 
it suddenly ran along the wall ! 

Oh, we need men — need them now supremely — ready 
for great, plain, unromantic duties ! We are in deplora- 
ble lack of men and women, who love God with all their 
hearts, and who love their fellow-men as they do them- 
selves. We need men and women whose souls grow 
fresher and younger, each time they come to the Lord's 
table. This age of ours, cold and uncompromising, 
thoroughly disrespectful and suspicious of all shams, de- 
mands a new piety ; a piety frank in rebuking sin and 
firm in resisting it, but tender and merciful when it seeks 
to lift the man who is defiled by it. It clamors now 
for no singular or dramatic experiences of conversion, 



FAITH WORKING BY LOVE. 1 79 

The world's demand. Satisfied at last. 

least of all a something called a second conversion. He 
who is the meetest of saints for the kingdom of heaven, 
he who is the surest to enter heaven, may not at all be 
the one who has the most graphic story to tell of con- 
viction and wrestle, succeeded by some disclosure of 
sunshiny and bird-singing peace afterward ; nor he 
who has the longest and most voluble formulas of 
prayer to rehearse on sudden public call. It is possible 
that it may be even that unsuspected believer who 
trusts Christ in the humblest way, dependent on him 
for pardon, and he whose whole life is milder and mel- 
lower as he moves patiently on toward its end and 
crown. 

Indeed, we come back to the point at which we 
started ; there is no getting beyond it. The poor, per- 
plexed world says it w T ill be satisfied only with a faith 
which ivorketh by love. 



XVI. 

THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 

And being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly: and his 
sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down 

TO THE GROUND. — Luke 22 : 44. 

The theme for study next offered is stated thus : 
" Suffering saints find comfort in Christ." He is called 
"The Perfect Pattern ; " and we are assured, in the pas- 
sage chosen from one of Simon Peter's epistles, that by- 
following him closely we shall return unto "the Shep- 
herd and Bishop of our souls." (i Peter 2 : 19-25.) 

I judge that a single incident in our Saviour's career 
may be made to serve a more effective purpose than 
any general rehearsal of the whole of it. And I choose 
for detailed consideration his agony in the garden of 
Gethsemane. 

The apostle announces the principle that suffering is 
actually welcome so as to be worthy of thanks, on three 
conditions : it is to be gained conscientiously, endured 
patiently, and inflicted unjustly. For this was the form 
of Jesus' trials ; they came upon him in our behalf, and 
as our pattern, and for our emulation. 

The particulars he holds up as specially designed for 
our imitation are our Lord's sinlessness and sincerity, 
his patience and self-control, his courage and unbroken 



THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. l8l 

Christ our pattern. Physical pain. 

trust. All these are seen in their highest degree as he 
kneels beneath the olives in the garden, just before he 
is betrayed. " For this is thank-worthy, if a man for 
conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrong- 
fully. For even hereunto were ye called : because 
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that 
ye should follow his steps : who did no sin, neither was 
guile found in his mouth : who, when he was reviled, 
reviled not again ; when he suffered, he threatened not ; 
but committed himself to him that judgeth right- 
eously." 

The sight of moral disease affects the ordinary human 
mind less than that of mental ruin ; and either of these 
makes less impression than that of mere physical pain. 
One who passes through the w r ards of a hospital be- 
comes burdened and feverish with overstrained feeling. 
He would have much less oppression in an insane asy- 
lum, and would return with a kind of curious interest 
after a visit to a jail. Perhaps this suggests a constitu- 
tional reason why the church at large dwells so much 
on the bodily sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is 
easy to appreciate the pain of a nailed hand, a pierced 
side, or a transfixed foot. Hence, the most morbid and 
even shocking pictures of the crucifixion scene are half 
welcomed by many a mystic devotee, who magnifies 
and measures the love of his Saviour by the pangs he 
endured, the lacerations and wounds. 

The scene, introduced to us by the verse in the gos- 
pel, is calculated always to attract attention. It will re- 



1 82 THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 

The ancient collect. Luke, a physician. 

ward our severest study. But we shall find ourselves 
confronted with a form of anguish unshared, unparal- 
leled, and unexplained. There is mystery in the details 
of its description ; in the circumstances of its occur- 
rence ; in even the fact of its record. Oh, how little we 
know of what we so often call Chrises " agony in the 
garden ! " 

I. There is mystery in the details of its descrip- 
tion. 

One venerable collect there is, found in an ancient 
liturgy, which it becomes us reverently to offer here, as 
we begin our investigations: — " Almighty God, who 
calledst Luke the physician, whose praise is in the gos- 
pel, to be an evangelist, and physician of the soul ; may 
it please thee, that, by the wholesome medicines of the 
doctrine delivered by him, all the diseases of our souls 
may be healed ; through the merits of thy Son Jesus 
Christ our Lord. Amen." 

i. The single writer. — The history of this part of our 
Saviour's anguish is recorded by only one of the evan- 
gelists. Neither Matthew, Mark, nor John makes any 
allusion to a sweat-like blood in Gethsemane. It may 
not go very far in explanation of this strange fact, but 
it can be stated for what it is worth, and probably will 
help some minds, that Luke, who narrates this extraor- 
dinary circumstance, was a physician by profession, and 
in many instances in his gospel, discoverable by compar- 
ing it with the others, shows his observation of matters 



THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 183 

" As it were." Did Jesus sweat blood ? 

peculiar to his calling. It is certain that this particular 
in the garden-suffering of Jesus would powerfully arrest 
his imagination, and impress his remembrance. 

2. The singular language. — Our version of Luke's 
story is positively accurate. Let us read it over again : 
— "His sweat was as it were great drops of blood fall- 
ing down to the ground." This formula of comparison, 
thus used, deserves close notice. The verse does not 
say that Jesus sweat blood, but that what he did sweat 
was like drops of blood falling. The same word I have 
counted as occurring thirty-four times in the New Tes- 
tament. In six instances it is translated "like;" in 
seven, "as;" in eighteen, "about;" in two, "as it had 
been;" in one — this one here — "as it were." Luke 
knows his own term ; and he says the Holy Ghost was 
like a dove, and that Stephen's face was as it had been 
the face of an angel ; that is, each of these seemed so ; 
for the same adverb is used there as here. Indeed, in 
no passage in all the New Testament does the expression 
"like," or "as it were," signify fact; it merely means 
resemblance. Shall we, then, assert that Jesus did not 
shed the traditional blood-sweat in his agony ? No ; 
not necessarily. But we ought not to be dogmatic 
about it. It seems inexplicable that Luke should men- 
tion blood at all, if there was no real blood to speak of. 
Drops of perspiration are just as specific, graphic, pic- 
turesque as any other drops, if only force of style was 
what he wanted. It is better to understand that, min- 
gled with the profuse moisture upon Jesus' person, 



1 84 THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 

Sleeping for sorrow. The third prayer. 



there came forth, under a stress of new agony, the stain 
of real blood, falling on the ground. 

II. There is mystery in the circumstances of this 

OCCURRENCE. 

We shall see this if we note the exact time of it, the 
immediate occasion of it, the rare nature of it, and the 
exhaustive violence of it. 

i. The Time. — It is most touching and pitiable to see 
our lonely Lord going to and from the slumbering dis- 
ciples, backward and forward, restless and unsatisfied, 
as the hours pass wearily on. How little they knew of 
his trial ! Again and again he prayed. The disciples 
surrendered ; nobody tells us why but Luke. He drew 
from his own experience as a professional man the fact 
that sympathy is very wearing, and urges to drowsiness. 
So he adds, charitably : " He found them sleeping for 
sorrow." Thus they lay heavily on the sward, and that 
burdened Redeemer walked alone amid the shadows, 
ever, as before, going "a little further" under their 
gloom. Yet this would not do. He must have a word, 
a look, a sign, from his Father's throne. Just in the 
line of incident, then, comes this phenomenon. It was 
connected with the third prayer. 

2. The Occasion. — Two prayers had seemingly failed 
thus far, except insomuch as they bore by reflex action 
on Jesus' personal experience. He had not yet in ex- 
act answer received his request. Girding himself anew 
then for a still mightier exercise of faith, submission, 



THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 1 85 

Growth in submission. A misconception. 

and importunity, he knelt upon the sward. Then na- 
ture gave way. In the stress of that strong supplica- 
tion, the natural barriers of blood were rended, and his 
sweat was tinged. 

We cannot fail, therefore, to connect this rupture w T ith 
the act of prayer. " Being in an agony, he prayed more 
earnestly. ,, The expression means more intensely, more 
strenuously. The singularity of this form of statement 
lies in the implication it evidently makes that Jesus 
could be less earnest at one time than another in his 
prayers. It represents him as actually growing in the 
experience of submitting his w T ill to his Father's. There 
is no force nor fixedness in language if this narrative 
does not teach that he discovered there was need of 
greater vehemence in spiritual fervor than that with 
which he had begun to pray. 

We must drop our preconceived notions of* a mere 
theanthropic Messiah here, and accept the picture of a 
historic Jesus. It is plain that our Saviour entered 
Gethsemane with a wish in his mind which w r as not in 
accordance with his Father's will. In expressing it, he 
remained, as ever, sinless, for he had no purpose w T hich 
he meant to carry out into wilfulness. All this time, 
however, he was putting his w T ill at school. It cost him 
a conflict which he had never before experienced. Call 
that "cup " what you please ; he distinctly asked to be 
permitted to decline it, and only after severe struggle 
acquiesced — "Thy will, not mine. ,, This must be the 
plain reference of that tremendous passage in the epistle 



1 86 THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 

" He learned obedience." Charles IX. 

to the Hebrews, where we are told concerning Jesus, 
that "in the clays of his flesh, when he had offered up 
prayers and supplications, with strong crying and tears, 
unto him that was able to save him from death, and was 
heard in that he feared ; though he were a Son, yet 
learned he obedience by the things which he suffered." 

3. The Nature. — But the moment the spirit became 
willing, it was evident that the flesh was weak. What 
the mind can do in its regnant power over the body has 
never been fully tested for record. The trouble is, the 
register breaks in the moment of measurement. We 
can hardly understand this curious effect of Jesus' dis- 
tress upon him. The medical books, we are told, are 
not without authentic instances of strong mental emo- 
tions having bent and broken the physical frames of 
men. The cases are rare, but by no means unknown ; 
and one historic illustration has never been denied. It 
is recorded that Charles the Ninth, of France, was, upon 
his death-bed, so overcome by pangs of remorse under 
the awful recollection of the Saint Bartholomew massa- 
cre he had ordered, that his blood was actually driven 
through the pores of his skin, and stained the linen on 
which he lay. So that we need not regard the small 
cavils of those who declare the record incredible, even 
if taken in the most literal way. Sweat of blood is not 
frequent, certainly ; but it cannot be called impossible. 

4. The Violence. — There can be no doubt, at all events, 
of the physical effect of this exhaustion upon Jesus. 

This sweat of blood remains as the highest evidence 



THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 1 87 

Celestial succor. A mysterious record. 

to show the rending laceration, the unfathomable depths, 
and the awful extremity of that hour's pain. He broke 
down utterly and irretrievably under it. A necessity 
arose for divine interposition and succor, or he could 
not go on. " There appeared an angel unto him from 
heaven, strengthening him.' , 

Now, it might be expected that at this point there 
would be a mystery. Who was this angel ? What did 
he do ? No other evangelist even mentions the occur- 
rence. Some excellent people have been stumbled to 
think that an angel — a created being —should be sent to 
help the Creator. Here is a silly misconception again. 
Our Lord laid aside so much of his divine nature and 
glory as was necessary for him to become fairly resident 
in a human being, "a little lower than the angels." 
And in some way, not explained to us, that radiant mes- 
senger renewed Jesus' strength, recruited his exhausted 
frame, and raised him from his otherwise fatal exhaus- 
tion. 

III. There is mystery in the fact that this record 

WAS MADE. 

We reach our highest wonder at this point. Three 
questions meet us in the same breath. When was this 
record put in the Bible ? How was it put in ? Why was 
it put in ? 

1. When was it put in ? For the singular fact con- 
fronts us that it is not in — neither this verse nor the one 
which precedes it — in many of the old manuscript cop- 



1 88 THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 

The verse genuine. How did Luke know ? 

ies of this gospel. Some of our ablest commentators 
doubt whether it really belongs in the New Testament 
at all. They simply reject the story. 

All this seems rash and uncalled for. Of course we 
readily understand why any ancient transcriber should 
be tempted to leave these verses out from the few copies 
where they are missing ; it may have seemed to him, 
perhaps, that such a story of utter humiliation dishon- 
ored the Son of God. But nobody could understand 
why a transcriber should invent so preposterous a thing, 
aud thrust it into the many copies where it appears. 
Hence the last critics have no hesitancy in holding that 
all the record is authentic, just as genuine as any other 
part of the gospel Luke has given us. 

2. How was it put in ? That is, how did Luke know 
about so extraordinary a phenomenon as this ? Mat- 
thew and John were among the immediate disciples of 
our Lord. And the hazardous conjecture has been 
made that Mark w r as that "young man " whom he him- 
self alone mentions, w T ho followed Jesus "with a linen 
cloth cast about his naked body." But nobody has 
ever gone further than to offer a proofless suggestion 
that Luke may have been one of those w^ho met our 
Saviour on the journey to Emmaus. And even the wild 
remark is on record that possibly the marks of the 
blood-drops w r ould be visible after the termination of 
the agony ! But no scholarly argument can be held for 
an instant to show that this evangelist ever set his eyes 
upon Jesus' face, or ever visited Gethsemane before the 



THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 1 89 

"Why related ? Christ's example. 

resurrection. Luke was Paul's physician, and his his- 
tory comes later. The quickest explanation is decidedly 
the best, and the only one. The facts were communi- 
cated to these inspired writers, as the facts of the crea- 
tion were communicated to Moses, or the facts about 
Cyrus to Isaiah. " Holy men of God spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost." 

3. Why was it put in ? Here we reach the main ques- 
tion, the most momentous and most far-reaching mortal 
lips can ask. To human comprehension this hour of 
garden-agony is the one awful thing of the Bible. If 
there can be another wonder deeper than this, that Jesus 
should be humiliated so, it is that all the ages should be 
told of it. Why was not this pain and shame covered 
up from mortal gaze with a decorous darkness like that 
which veiled the corresponding agony on the cross ? 
Why send the curious eyes of men peering among the 
shadows of Gethsemane, that they might report such 
conflict of Immanuel, when he was at the lowest ? Now 
for one, I would hush my voice, and cover my face, in 
utter abandonment, if there had not been put on my lips 
an answer by inspiration itself. 

Listen to these words : " Christ also suffered for us, 
leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." 
What Jesus endured on the cross lies between him and 
his Father, and may well be covered up. What he en- 
dured in the moonlight in the garden lies between him 
and us, and we have a lesson to learn from it. He was 
showing how a human will, which it was possible to set 



I90 THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 

" Our infirmities." " Yet without sin." 

against the divine, could be subdued into submission to 
it. It was a lesson for every tempted man. Hence the 
declaration, "For verily he took not on him the nature 
of angels ; but he took on him the seed of Abraham/' 
" Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh 
and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the 
same." Immanuel was "God with us;" not a divine 
soul in a human body merely, but a divine person in a 
human nature precisely like our own. He could hunger 
and thirst ; he could burn and shiver ; be weary and feel 
pain. He took a human nature like Adam's, which was 
fallible, and could commit sin. That he never did com- 
mit any sin w T as because the human nature he took was 
supported by the divine. " Himself bare our infirm- 
ities." If it had been in every sense impossible for him 
to be touched by evil passions, or solicited by evil appe- 
tites, or agitated by evil ambitions, he would have been 
no pattern for you and for me. 

All that call, in Gethsemane, to his disciples — "Rise 
and pray, lest ye enter into temptation " — would go for 
nothing, unless there w r as some apprehension of over- 
throw in his case that might be paralleled in theirs. He 
could do all things through the divine nature which 
strengthened him ; and we can do all things through 
Christ, w T ho, by his promised Spirit, will strengthen us. 
He was a man who never sinned ; to show us there could 
be a man who should never sin. So was he "in all 
points tempted like as w T e are, yet without sin." He 
assumed our weaknesses and exposures, as well as some 



THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 191 

Less he'p than we. Resist unto blood. 

of our succors and defences, just to make us see that 
these could in all cases offset each other. That is, he 
entered into our commonplace conflicts to render it 
eternally clear they could be fought out into triumphs. 
He had less, indeed, of help than we have ; for have we 
not his own bright example, his inspiriting encourage- 
ments, and his sweet promises ? God has said to each 
one of us, " I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck 
is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass." It is the office 
of our life's discipline to bend that sinew of iron, and 
break that brow of brass. 

" Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly 
calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our 
profession, Christ Jesus." He sweat blood in the gar- 
den to teach us that we cannot duly have " considered " 
him, as long as we - " have not yet resisted unto blood, 
striving against sin." As in the temptation he proved 
Satan could be conquered with three tests, so in the 
agony he proved that human will could be subdued 
with three prayers. 

" Could ye not watch with me one hour ? " On these 
misimproved hours of heavenly instruction will event- 
ually be lodged some of our saddest regrets if ever 
we fall into sin. Simon Peter, out in the quadrangle, 
beside the fire of coals, must have felt one single 
question of the soldier far more than all the gibes 
of the maid : " Did not I see thee in the garden with 
him ? " 

But the encouragement is even beyond the admoni- 



igz THE SWEAT OF BLOOD. 

The litany. Homeward steps. 

tion. Would not he, who was willing to suffer, be will- 
ing to succor also ? So let us pray : " By thine agony 
and bloody sweat ; by thy cross and passion ; by thy 
precious death and burial ; by thy glorious resurrection 
and ascension ; and by the coming of the Holy Ghost 
good Lord, deliver us ! " 

So now we come legitimately back from our illustra- 
tion in the gospel to the lesson in the epistle upon which 
our study needs to close. We see what the apostle means 
when he concludes : " For ye were as sheep going astray, 
but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of 
your souls." 

There are just three homeward steps for every human 
being entering into the spirit and advantage of our Sav- 
iour's suffering. Think what we all once have been : 
" sheep going astray." See what Jesus now is: "the 
Shepherd and Bishop " of souls. Come close to him 
with a hearty "return." 

"For thus saith the Lord God, Behold I, even I, w r ill 
both search my sheep, and seek them out. I will feed 
them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains 
of Israel shall their fold be : there shall they lie in a 
good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they feed upon the 
mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will 
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God." 



■| 



XVIL 

SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 

The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all 

sin. — i John i : 7. 

An interesting story has been related in one of our 
missionary periodicals concerning a faithful minister 
now laboring in the foreign field. While traveling once 
in India, he discovered, in a retired spot by the wayside, 
a man lying on the earth. Seen at a distance, he ap- 
peared to be asleep. He judged him to be one of those 
singular heathen devotees, so often in that land encoun- 
tered upon their painful pilgrimages, and supposed that, 
fatigued with his protracted journey, he had fallen on 
the ground for rest. 

Coming up to him, however, he found that the man 
was really in a dying state, just breathing his last. 
Kneeling down by his side, and solicitous to give help 
or bring comfort to one in such mortal extremity, he 
put the question in the native language : " Brother, 
what is your hope for eternity ? " 

Faintly, but with an expression of delighted surprise, 
the man replied : " The blood of Jesus Christ his Son 
cleanseth us from all sin." His strength failed him with 
the mere repetition of these inspired words ; and in a 
moment more, the soul of this unknown believer had 
9 



194 SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 

The Bengalee convert. " Brother, your hope? " 

passed out of human sight, and was in the presence of 
God. Subdued into unutterable emotion at thus sud- 
denly confronting death, there in so secluded a retreat, 
the missionary gazed upon the lifeless body, silently 
wondering who this strange fellow-Christian might be. 
His eye caught a glimpse of a fragment of paper closely 
clasped in the dead man's hand. On examination, this 
proved to be a detached leaf of the Bengalee Testament. 
And on it were traced the words which that Hindoo 
convert had repeated with trustful reliance, as he floated 
out alone upon that shoreless sea of eternal existence 
which rolls all around the world. 

There comes an hour to every individual, when that 
same impressive question must be answered with equal 
explicitness : " Brother, what is your hope for eternity ? " 
There will be a day when each one of us will withdraw 
quietly from the dusty road of human travel, and seek 
some undisturbed spot in which to die. A score of 
wrong replies may be made then, when it will be too 
late for a man to make any other. That which the Ben- 
galee believer made is the only safe one ; and that has 
to be understood earlier. 

It is a useless thing to assert with persistent vehe- 
mence that it matters little or nothing as to what a man 
believes, provided he is only sincere. It makes a great 
deal of difference what a man believes. Faith decides 
character, and character fixes destiny. " As a man 
thinketh in his heart, so is he." Theory governs life, 
and life it is that opens the door of eternity. 



SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 195 

The one Mediator. The words " lie " and " liar." 

It was long ago declared possible for human beings, 
under a strong delusion, to believe a lie. If any one 
does that, the more sincere he is in it, the worse he is 
off. Jesus of Nazareth is the one mediator between 
God and man ; so says inspiration : " Neither is there 
salvation in any other : for there is none other name 
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
saved." There is one clear way of salvation from sin ; 
there is one relief from the burden of wrath and guilt ; 
but there are not two. 

When the apostle John, who generally seems so gen- 
tle, breaks out in the strong expression : " If we say 
that we have not sinned, we make God a liar, and his 
word is not in us," we are inevitably thrown into con- 
sternation. Instinctively we look at the connection of 
such sentences, to see if we may not have mistaken the 
meaning. Then we are startled to read again a fresh 
reiteration of the same statement : " If we say that we 
have fellowship with God, and walk in darkness, we 
lie, and do not the truth." Such language appears 
to delicate-minded people somewhat violent and ex- 
treme. 

Moreover, it awakes opposition. To hear an inspired 
preacher bandying around those words lie and liar, which 
no one in this life takes tamely, seems extravagant. It 
always surprises us to find an habitually mild man using 
such rough epithets. But if we are forced to the con- 
viction that he is thoroughly in earnest, and really 
means what he says, then we forget the speaker in the 



196 SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 

A possible mistake. God cannot lie. 

violence of the sentiment. We begin stubbornly to 
deny the charges. 

Now here the beloved disciple interposes a single dep- 
recation. He is charitable enough to suppose that no 
one would condemn us unheard. He allows the sup- 
position of half-innocent mistake upon our part. He 
says : "If we say that we have no sin, we deceive our- 
selves, and the truth is not in us." But even this does 
not take off the sharp edge altogether. For we have 
no notion we are so utterly dull in our self-knowledge ; 
no one admits that he is so miserably deceived as this. 
The fact is undeniable ; most men have no true convic- 
tion of personal guilt, such as demands ignorance for 
an apology, or offers it as an exculpation. At all events, 
we are not willing meekly to be told that the mere feel- 
ing of injustice, which sweeps over us under the exten- 
sive condemnation pronounced upon us, is equivalent to 
flinging back upon the divine Being who made us the 
accusation of himself bearing false witness. We have no 
purpose whatever of calling God, our heavenly Father, 
a liar. These swift estimates strike us as offensive and 
rash, in despite of inspiration. They do certainly, so 
we insist, overrate the wickedness of our follies and im- 
perfections. They attach too much importance to our 
mere harmless fretting under heavenly restraints. They 
inject an unmerited malignity of guilt into simple petu- 
lance and caprice of will, which has no intention of pos- 
itive rebellion. 

It is probable that many of us make these two mis- 



SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 1 97 

Actual computation. " Sin," but not " sins." 

takes at once : We do not attempt to add up the numbers 
of our actual transgressions ; and we fail to bear in 
mind that non-performance of the right is the same as the 
doing of real wrong. So we naturally satisfy ourselves 
with conclusions that do not come up to the standard 
of perfectness which the judgment of infinite purity de- 
mands. God makes registers which we say are not true. 
" Every way of a man is right in his own eyes : but the 
Lord pondereth the hearts." 

It becomes evident that all the sacred writers have an- 
other criterion than ours, by which they more accurately 
measure the exact heinousness of human conduct in the 
sight of a holy God. The fear arises, in every exhibi- 
tion of men's responsibility for behavior, that many a 
one will be found who is attempting to pass all particu- 
lars by, and take a sweet self-congratulation in confess- 
ing generals. He will acknowledge he is a sinner, per- 
haps. Everybody is. He supposes he may have bro- 
ken the Decalogue. But you will ask in vain for him 
to mention the commandment. Sometimes one will ad- 
mit that he is exposed to the curse of the law. At the 
same moment, however, he is prepared to make a stand 
of denial upon each precept in turn. Such a man actu- 
ally appears sincere. He imagines it is just fair to him 
to draw a distinction. He may have committed sin, but 
no sins. He is defiled, but not exactly blameworthy. 
He feels pain and weakness, and so owns he has caught 
a calamity of wickedness, as even the healthiest of men 
possibly might catch an infectious disease. But he in- 



198 SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 

Guilt massing itself. Reminiscences. 

sists that he has lived conscientiously, and has never 
been a violent transgressor. He merits less censure, 
having sinned, as it were, only by accident. 

Then, further, it seems clear that before we can set- 
tle the moral state of any given individual, we shall be 
compelled to take into consideration his lack of positive 
obedience and service, as it ought to be registered by 
the light and the chances he has received. And with 
most of us, dwelling under the full blaze of the gospel, 
the case may eventually go hard. In nothing else does 
sin display its Satanic origin and nature so evidently as 
in its insidious power of massing itself in and upon a 
human soul, without that soul's becoming painfully or 
alarmingly conscious of its baleful presence. This is 
what constitutes the peculiar "deceitfulness" of trans- 
gression, concerning which we are so frequently admon- 
ished in the Scriptures. And this is what blinds the 
eyes most of all against the discovery that doing noth- 
ing right is just the same as doing something wrong. 
" Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth 
it not, to him it is sin." 

I honestly and sorrowfully believe there is no person 
in any intelligent community, informed enough to un- 
derstand how searchingly the law of God lays hold upon 
motives and purposes, and all the hidden movements of 
the mind, who cannot even now recall the day and the 
hour when his will crossed God's will in an actual expe- 
rience of speech or of deed, and he determined to have 
his own way — did have it — and knows now, this very 



SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 199 



Old wrongs. Negative sins. 



moment, that in that decision and behavior he deliber- 
ately sinned against the God of heaven. 

To many of us there are faces on earth, living some- 
where, near or distant, which we desire never to behold 
again ; faces, for example, which seen in our business 
haunts or social circles, and likely to claim old acquaint- 
ance w T ith us, would mantle our cheeks with shame. 
There are tongues, which could speak in some ears only 
a few words of recollection and recall, that we would 
give the world rather than have whispered in the pres- 
ence of those friends w T ho respect us and trust us to- 
day. Do you suppose King David w T as the only man 
that ever lived who could pray, or has prayed, in an 
abashed wonder at his own disclosed history : " Remem- 
ber not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions : 
according to thy mercy remember thou me, for thy good- 
ness' sake, O Lord ? " 

Alas for our neglects of duty — our first oath, our fool- 
ish dissipation, our bad book read, our filthy story told, 
our Sabbath broken, our parents disobeyed, our preva- 
rication under the sharp question of an employer, our 
evil companionship ! And in our riper years — alas for 
our impulsive yielding to dishonesty, our malicious 
insinuation undermining the fair fame of another, our 
acted lie to keep up appearances, our permitted misun- 
derstanding from which came gain to our greed, our 
quarrels with rivals in trade or competitors in profes- 
sion, our ungenerous suspicion that rejected old trust, 
our indignation at fraternal rebukes ! Alas for our wil- 



200 SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 

Our ownership in sin. The sea-shell. 

ful outbreaks of temper, our miserable jealousies in so- 
ciety, our chicaneries in politics, our covetings of gain, 
our whisperings of detraction, our word broken when it 
should have been kept, our word given when it should 
have been withheld, our wounding speeches to the weak 
and dependent, our anger at the beggars, our hardness 
on the poor, our pride, always too unwilling to explain 
or retract old injustice or heal estrangement ! Who is 
clear in this ? 

All of these may not be recognized by the same per- 
son, but each will remember his own. And the uncom- 
fortable pain they bring arises in no degree against the 
one who suggests them, for they do not originate with 
him ; they are ours, and ours alone. 

You sometimes enter a cabinet of curiosities, and the 
attendant proffers you a large, beautiful shell. He tells 
you that, if you put it to your ear, you can hear the 
moaning of the ocean. It amuses you to make the trial ; 
sure enough, you seem listening to a roar of waves upon 
the rocks. Your curiosity, however, is most arrested by 
the fact that you hear the sound only when you grasp 
the shell yourself. Perhaps a child would imagine that 
it holds in its recesses memories of the beach it came 
from. But you inquire, and are now interested to be 
informed that the noise comes not out of any peculiar- 
ity in the shell, but only from the vibration of your own 
fingers around on the outside of the hollow convolu- 
tions, as the tension of the muscles grows tremulous 
under the pressure. So really, w^iat you hear is not the 



SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 201 

The sound In one's ears. The " life-giver." 

ocean at all, but only the beat and pulse of your own 
busy life. 

Bear away with you a profitable thought from this. 
You hold up God's word close to your ear ; somebody 
tells you it is full of warning; you perceive the dull 
roar of retribution yourself ; you grow pettish if another 
man presses it harder. But all this while you hear the 
moaning of a solemn admonition more clearly if you 
are alone. For what you hear is just your own heart 
growing prophetic of evil, when it listens to the voice 
of your own life telling its record to your soul. " The 
wicked man travaileth with pain all his days, and the 
number of years is hidden to the oppressor. A dread- 
ful sound is in his ears : in prosperity the destroyer shall 
come upon him." 

Now then, what the apostle John says is that there is 
no use in trying to deny such an impeachment. God 
charges that we are rebellious sinners, and our hearts 
accept the sense of guilt. If we refuse to admit it, we 
are liars ourselves, and are attempting to show that God 
is also. " But if we walk in the light, as he is in the 
light, we have fellowship one with another, and the 
blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." 

Scholars tell us that throughout the Peshito Syriac 
version of the Scriptures, deemed among the most prim- 
itive and intelligent, " salvation" is in all cases rendered 
"life ; " the saved are called the living or the alive ; the 
Saviour bears the name of Mahyono, or the life-giver. 
In all this there is a proper recognition of our owing 
9* 



202 SIN CLEANSED BY BLOOD. 

McCheyne's remark. Carey's epitaph. 

everything to Jesus Christ, our surety. We are dead in 
trespasses and in sins, but our life is hid with Christ in 
God. "To be awakened," wisely said McCheyne, "we 
need to know our own hearts ; to be saved, we need to 
know the heart of Jesus Christ." 

Christ is, therefore, a perfect Saviour. Our relief is 
not found in denying sin, but in accepting him as our 
redeemer from it. If we plead not guilty, we do not tell 
the truth. " And if any man sin, we have an advocate 
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous : and he is 
the propitiation for our sins : and not for ours only, but 
also for the sins of the whole world." " If we confess our 
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and 
to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 

It was the dying request of William Carey, that if a 
poor sinful creature should merit any word to be said at 
his funeral, it should be merely to declare that upon his 
tombstone he wanted this one verse for an epitaph : 

"A wretched, poor, and helpless worm, 
On thy kind arms I fall ; 
My Lord, my life, my sacrifice, 
My Saviour, and my all ! " 



XVIII. 
LOVE AS A FORCE. 

We love him, because he first loved us.— i John 4 : 19. 

John, the beloved disciple, soon shows himself the 
loving apostle. Specially, in that remembered passage 
of his first epistle, near the beginning of the fourth 
chapter, he pictures a range of experience extending 
from God to man and from man to his fellow-man, very- 
rare and beautiful, and full of practical suggestion to all 
who will study it. He shows us love as an embodiment 
in God, love as a manifestation by God, and love as a 
force from God. 

1. As an embodiment, he puts it thus : "God is love." 
He tells us, in the outset, that the Creator had cher- 
ished an eternal affection and solicitude for fallen man. 
The next step leads him to say that God had plainly ex- 
hibited his interest by his careful providences. Then he 
passes swiftly and enthusiastically on in a glowing de- 
scription of the love. Then he begins to laud it ; then 
he vindicates God's claims for obedience on account of 
it. Thus advancing constantly, more and more fully 
under sway of his theme, as he refreshes his own soul 
with the delights of it, he at last reaches the climax, 
and in one burst of ascription, whose very simplicity 



204 LOVE AS A FORCE. 

" God is love." Natural religion. 

constitutes its grandeur, he declares, " God is love." 
A sense of obligation is instantly asserted : " Beloved, 
let us love one another : for love is of God ; and every 
one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God. He 
that loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God is love." 

Now we are not to suppose he intended to give here 
an exact definition of the Supreme Being. The al- 
mighty Creator is a person, not an attribute. John only 
takes what he insists to be the chief characteristic of the 
Deity, and by a bold stroke of rhetoric affirms that he is 
its perfection and embodiment at the highest. 

It is vitally necessary to the success of any system of 
belief that men shall understand the character of the 
God who demands worship and service under it. Man 
is a devotional being, and he will certainly clamor for 
some religion with all the wistful voices of his entire 
nature. What that religion will be depends upon one 
primary conception in his mind ; namely, the idea he 
has of the supreme Jove or Jehovah at the centre and 
head of it. This it is which gives form to all his rea- 
sonings, as well as a reason for all his forms. Let a na- 
tion be instructed to think of God as a being of war, 
and little by little their worship is sure to become mar- 
tial, and the feelings of their hearts military. Battle- 
songs will be the anthems on the holy-days, cries for 
vengeful success will be the prayers, and heroic soldiers 
will figure as demi-gods. Not unlikely human victims 
will smoke upon the altars, and bloody trophies will be 
hung upon the walls of the temples. Men always be- 



LOVE AS A FORCE. 205 

The idea of God. Projection of attributes. 

come like that which they willingly worship. This one 
idea of God controls the entire race, giving shape to 
every form of development. 

" Think of Buddha," say the Chinese priests, "and 
you will grow to resemble Buddha." So they picture 
heaven as consisting of a series of tremendous periods 
of time, divided according to the portions of Buddha's 
person. So many years are to be passed in thinking of 
Buddha's feet ; so many years in thinking of Buddha's 
knees ; so many years in thinking of Buddha's waist, 
and of his shoulders, and of his chin, and so on. Their 
idea of God fashions the whole religion they cherish and 
the devotional life they live. 

Now, we must remember that the Bible teaches us to 
reverse the usual process by which unregenerate men 
seek to reach the idea of the Supreme Being. The so- 
called philosophers and "advanced thinkers" of this 
world are wont to construct their own deities. They pro- 
ject the attributes of their common nature into infinity, 
and then group them together, calling that Jove or Jeho- 
vah, as it pleases themselves. That is to say, they con- 
ceive power, which in a measure human beings possess, 
to become unlimited ; that makes omnipotence. Then 
they conceive wisdom, which sages exhibit, to advance 
into omniscience. So they gather the qualities of the 
supremely best human nature, augment them and refine 
them and exalt them until they may suddenly be hur- 
ried into personality — and the personage is God. Un- 
fortunately, the result of this process is unequal to the 



206 LOVE AS A FORCE. 

"An Ethiop's god." God's revelation of himself. 

need of one's soul, because it is the simple creation of 
one's soul ; the fountain cannot rise higher than the 
spring. A conception thus originated partakes of the 
entire man that starts it, and so universally the produc- 
tions will vary as the men do. 

"An Ethiop's god hath Ethiop's lips, 
Black cheek, and woolly hair ; 
But the Grecian god hath a Grecian face, 
As keen- eyed and as fair." 

The New Testament shows us that God prefers to 
draw his own picture upon the human imagination, and 
addresses our faith by the disclosure of himself sover- 
eignly in the person of Jesus Christ. So far back as in 
his gospel, this same evangelist John had written : " No 
man hath seen God at any time ; the only-begotten Son, 
which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared 
him." Here, in his epistle, he amplifies and reiterates 
the thought ; showing that our entire notion of the 
Supreme Being comes from what he has himself re- 
vealed to us from on high : " No man hath seen God at 
any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, 
and his love is perfected in us. Hereby know we that 
we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us 
of his Spirit. And we have seen, and do testify, that the 
Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." 

Let it be taken for granted that God is love ; that is, 
that he is actuated by love, his character is based on 
love, his law is a law of love, his dealings are in the 



LOVE AS A FORCE. 207 

The true religion. A religion of love. 

highest sense the demonstrations of love, his leanings 
toward our fallen race are the yearnings of love. Then 
let it be understood that love becomes the permanent 
and reigning principle of our being ; and we shall in- 
stantly understand the meaning of the verse : " Whoso- 
ever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God 
dwelleth in him, and he in God." 

Suppose, then, there should be openly introduced a 
religion of gentleness and good-will, fixed unmistakably 
before all by the plain and characteristic element in it 
announced in the statement, " God is love." This would 
give to men love as an active principle of life. A God 
of love must be worshipped with love. Around him our 
sympathies would have to be grouped, so that whenever 
our veneration was to find utterance, or our devotion 
was to choose a ceremony, it necessarily would exhibit 
the presence of love as the prevailing spirit, and would 
show love in all its ritual forms. 

That is to say, take this old faith of ours, " the faith 
once delivered to the saints," as an example of what a 
religion must be. It is a religion of pure love ; for its 
Founder said explicitly : " The first of all the command- 
ments is, Hear, O Israel ; The Lord our God is one 
Lord : and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all 
thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, 
and with all thy strength. This is the first command- 
ment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other com- 
mandment greater than these." 



208 LOVE AS A FORCE. 

Love manifested. The life of Jesus. 

2. Next to this consideration of love as an embodi- 
ment in God, the apostle presents love as a manifesta- 
tion by God : " In this was manifested the love of God 
toward us, because that God sent his only-begotten Son 
into the world, that we might live through him. Here- 
in is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, 
and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 

There cannot be much advantage in pushing bright 
historic illustrations as pictures of the supreme, wonder- 
ful love of God the creator for his creatures here on the 
earth. Only mothers can understand the feeling of 
Mary when Jesus Christ moaned on the cross in the ma- 
jestic agony of his sufferings in darkness. And not 
even mothers can understand the feelings of God when 
he gave this beloved and only-begotten Son of his unto 
contumely and shame of crucifixion. Nor are Christ's 
feelings within reach of mere rhetorical exhibition by a 
story. When the spear pierced his heart there was only 
blood and water that came forth. But the chief stream 
within Jesus' heart was that of inexhaustible love ; and 
that had been the current down which had floated the 
argosies of blessing for bewildered men for vast ages 
since the pestilence of sin had fallen. 

We must read the life of Jesus Christ as the mere 
unfolding of this love. There is no explanation of 
Bethany tears outside of it. He might have taught a 
Samaritan woman professionally, like any other rabbi 
upon the road ; but he never would have "sat thus " on 
the well, unless he had loved her soul and longed to 



LOVE AS A FORCE. 20Q 



"He first loved us." Not for ourselves. 

save it by the truth. Simon the Cyrenian would have 
said he was uplifting an unknown malefactor's cross, as 
he unwillingly came in behind Jesus and raised the tim- 
ber on his shoulder. But what he was doing really was 
this — he was succoring eternal Love bearing a burden 
which for the moment proved too much for its physical 
embodiment. Peter saw Love walking upon the water ; 
John the Baptist pointed out Love on the shore of the 
Jordan ; Mary Magdalene spoke to Love on the excited 
morning of the resurrection ; Judas kissed Love when 
he swung the lantern before the face of Jesus ; Love had 
been kneeling under the old olives, and had left drops 
of blood-sweat on the grass. A whole biography there 
is, which cannot be read at all, unless read as an unfold- 
ing of the love of God in Jesus Christ for men. 

And all our love simply grows out of his : "We love 
him because he first loved us." But why did he first 
love us ? There was nothing in fallen man to attract 
admiration. We love what is lovely ; we believe God 
does the same. But we are all in ruins. Jonathan 
loved David because he was so brave and noble, as he 
told about Goliath. 

Nor was this love of God drawn out toward men by 
any reason of promise for the future. Pharoah's daugh- 
ter heard the cry of a babe in the bulrushes ; she whis- 
pered contemptuously of it, " It is only one of the He- 
brews' children ! " But when the attendant stooped 
down to pick it up, she saw it was a "goodly child," and 
something might be made of it if only she would give it 



2IO LOVE AS A FORCE. 

Not that we loved him. A driving energy. 

a little fairer chance. But we never had any hope of 
betterment by ourselves. 

Nor even was this divine love drawn out toward us 
by any affection that we still retained for him. He 
knows how we naturally feel toward him. " The carnal 
mind is enmity against God." The love we live upon 
is the sovereign, unconstrained gift of our God. " For 
when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ 
died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man 
will one die ; yet peradventure for a good man some 
would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love 
towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ 
died for us." 

3. This leads us directly on to the third point made 
by the apostle : he now considers love as a force from 
God. The reach of his thought grows extensive ; it de- 
scends from heaven to earth. Obligation comes after 
such supreme advantage : " Beloved, if God so loved us, 
we ought also to love one another." 

Affection is a force — in itself inherently a driving en- 
ergy, an elementary power of human nature which as- 
serts itself when unhindered, as gravitation does, or 
magnetism, or pure sunshine. It is never to be forgot- 
ten that souls yield to its influence all the more surely, 
and all the more extensively, because they yield uncon- 
sciously. Herein lies our hope of success in winning 
souls. 

Once I knew a working man, a potter by business, 
who had one small invalid child at home. He wrought 



LOVE AS A FORCE. 211 

Story of a potter. Quiet fellowship. 

at his trade with exemplary fidelity, being always in the 
shop with the opening of day. He managed, however, 
to bear each evening to the bedside of the " wee lad," as 
he called him, a flower, or a bit of ribbon, a fragment 
of crimson glass, indeed anything that would lie out on 
the white counterpane, and give a color in the room. 
He was a quiet unsentimental Scotchman ; but never 
went he home at nightfall without some toy or trinket, 
showing he had remembered the wan face that lit up so 
when he came in. I presume he never said to a living 
soul that he loved that sick boy so much. Still he 
went on patiently loving him. And by and by he 
moved that whole shop into positively real but un- 
conscious fellowship with him. The workmen made 
curious little jars and teacups upon their wheels, and 
painted diminutive pictures down the sides before they 
stuck them in corners of the kiln at burning time. One 
brought some fruit in the bulge of his apron, and an- 
other some engravings in a rude scrap-book. Not one 
of them all whispered a word, for this solemn thing was 
not to be talked about. They put them in the old 
man's hat, where he found them ; so he understood all 
about it. And I tell you seriously, that entire pottery 
full of men, of rather coarse fibre by nature, grew quiet 
as the months drifted, becoming gentle and kind, and 
some of the ungoverned ones stopped swearing, as the 
weary look on their patient fellow-worker's face told 
them beyond any mistake that the inevitable shadow 
was drawing nearer. Every day now somebody did a 



212 LOVE AS A FORCE. 

A child's funeral. A loyal affection. 

piece of his work for him, and put it up on the sanded 
plank to dry ; thus he could come later and go earlier. 
So, when the bell tolled, and the little coffin came out 
of the door of the lowly house, right around the corner 
out of sight, there stood a hundred stalwart working- 
men from the pottery with their clean clothes on, most 
of whom gave a half-day of time for the privilege of tak- 
ing off their hats to the simple procession, filing in be- 
hind it, and following across the village green to its 
grave that small burden of a child, which probably not 
one of them had ever seen with his own eyes. 

You all understand this : they loved him because some- 
body had loved him. Oh ! if just an earthly affection 
like this can win others into sharing it, what is there 
which cannot be done with an affection that is heav- 
enly ? If men love Christ with all their hearts, as that 
Scotchman loved his boy, the very love will carry heart 
after heart in its train. And so here is an instrument 
of usefulness within the reach of every Christian who 
will employ it. 

Some believers think they cannot speak felicitously, 
nor pray fluently, in public ; but what man lives that 
cannot love the cause, and love men, and love children, 
and love Christ loyally, until an entire circle of men 
and women he touches with his influence shall love him 
whom unseen we love ; in whom, though now we see 
him not, yet believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable 
and full of glory ! 

So I say again, therein lies the secret of all success. 



LOVE AS A FORCE. 21 3 

Somebody cares. Love wins love. 

You need not go far for illustration. A teacher brought 
one of her Bible class to me ; she tried to conceal her 
anxiety and restrain her emotion. But the boy caught 
a glimpse of the real tears which she could not keep 
back from her eyes ; and then he listened. Once an 
active merchant told me a lamentable tale of his book- 
keeper ; he desired me to interpose and save the young 
man from ruin. But never should I have reached the 
heart of the clerk if I had not happened to say his em- 
ployer's voice faltered when he spoke of him ; for so he 
knew his master cared for his good. Once I mentioned 
to a clergyman that perhaps I could help a disabled 
shoemaker with some little work, if he would come and 
see me soon. And next week I learned that this faith- 
ful friend, a city missionary, walked six cold miles that 
winter evening to tell the cobbler his good news before 
the midnight. And if ever I straitened myself to get 
a place for a man, I did then for him. For a man loved 
him, and then so did I. 

Hence the whole truth is in the statement : we love 
Christ because he loved us first. Then the love of Christ 
constrains us to seek others and lead them to love him ; 
and we teach them to love a Saviour they never saw by 
showing them how much we love him. Thus we uncon- 
sciously grow Christ-like ourselves, for his Spirit dwells 
within us. We learn to . love human beings because 
Christ loved the lost race they belong to. And then 
men, seeing we love them, love us and our work. And 
so the way is wide open to win them to God. 



XIX. 

ALPHA AND OMEGA. 

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith 
the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, 
the Almighty.— Revelation i : 8. 

Blue, dim, and solitary, in the wide offing, as one 
sails over the iEgean Sea, rises the Isle of Patmos sud- 
denly, out in the distance. There is no reason specially 
for a visit. Little or nothing remains to be seen ashore. 

But the Christian tourist sits thoughtfully on the deck, 
and recalls from his familiar reading that here John, the 
last of the apostolic band, and the loneliest, was once 
worshiping, and heard a trumpet ; he looked, and saw 
a vision ; he listened, and received an encouragement ; 
he was obedient, and wrote the Apocalypse. 

I. What did the trumpet articulate ? 

For it uttered words. Its blast rang out in terms and 
tones of human speech. On that solemn Sunday morn- 
ing, while this spiritually-minded man was in the act 
of communion with God, the heavens overhead became 
vocal. He tells the story in his own simple way : 

" I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard 
behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, I am 
Alpha and Omega, the first and the last : the beginning 



ALPHA AND OMEGA. 21 5 

A whirling wheel. God changes not. 

and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, 
and which is to come, the Almighty." 

There is, so scientific people tell us, one point, even 
in a whirling wheel, which is at rest. One line of atoms 
at the axis, around which all the others revolve, is still. 
When we conceive of providence, intricate and confused 
as it is, well typed by the prophet as " a wheel in the 
middle of a wheel," we are always to remember that God 
himself is sitting unmoved at the centre of the universe, 
the Father of lights, from whom cometh down every good 
and every perfect gift, and with whom there is no vari- 
ableness, neither shadow of turning. And there is re- 
lief and comfort in this. 

Shocked and shifted as we are in this life, our minds 
become impressed with a sense of insecurity. We are 
agitated with a thousand disquiets. No lot in the world 
is safe. Affairs fluctuate. Individual experience flits 
and plays with the phases of the moon. Institutions are 
not fixed. Even the perpetual hills do bow, and the 
eternal seas do change their bounds. Stability seems 
but an empty fiction or a dream. Versatilities mock 
our expectation ; vicissitude is the rule of earthly ex- 
istence. 

Over all sits God calmly. His throne never moves. 
His eye never sleeps. His patience never wearies. He 
wills and waits at his own pleasure. We look up and 
find him watching ; we know where to find him always. 
And the beauty and glory and welcome of this thought 
is centred in upon the one revelation that the God 



2l6 ALPHA AND OMEGA. 

Immanuel. Pre-existence. 

whom we see is the Saviour whom we love : "Jesus 
Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever." 

The idea of our divine Lord as a person is to many 
minds exceedingly indefinite. He seems a mere his- 
toric character, born, living, dying, like any other being 
among the generations of men. We accept his deity as 
a mysterious doctrine of revelation, essential, of course, 
to his office and work ; but our understanding of the 
ineffable meaning it bears is very vague and irrelevant. 
And that strange life, which began at the manger in 
Bethlehem, ran through some sorrowful years in Galilee, 
and then ended on the cross at Jerusalem, has no real 
significance as a mission of Immanuel, " God with us." 
We hardly know how to deal with it. Really the weak- 
ness of many believers is owing to their absolute inabil- 
ity to make this personal career of our Redeemer avail- 
able in their experience. 

Such confusion is perfectly natural. It is the neces- 
sary sequence of a miserable mistake. How childishly 
inadequate is the conception of an infinite Son of God, 
which limits him consciously or unconsciously to an 
earthly history ending in a failure ! Now the Scripture 
insists that Jesus' birth was not his beginning, nor was 
his death his end. The thirty-three years of his human 
existence bear almost no measure or relation to the real 
duration of his life. He was living for an eternity pre- 
vious to their commencing ; he is living now in an eter- 
nity as unbroken and as boundless as ever. The incar- 
nation was an incident in his career ; it was only a part 



ALPHA AND OMEGA. 2\J 

Child's notion of God. The Scripture scene. 

of his work of redemption, a necessary part, a noble 
part, but not the whole. His biography would have to 
be written with an alphabet, the Alpha of which no hu- 
man voice ever repeated, the Omega of which no mor- 
tal tongue would know how to speak. 

II. What was the vision which John saw ? 

"I can just remember," says a theologian of the last 
century, "that when the women first taught me to say 
my prayers to God, I used to have an idea of a vener- 
able old man, of a composed and benign countenance, 
with his own hair, clad in a morning gown of a grave- 
colored damask, sitting sedately in an elbow-chair." 
Such conceptions are singular as a study ; but are they 
not frequent as an experience ? Would it not be to edi- 
fication if a company of religious people should com- 
pare together the actual sight they seem to see when 
they close their eyes for an act of prayer ? Scripture 
pictures of the divine Being, which are not infrequent, 
have nothing of this grossness. There is an unparal- 
leled dignity and grace in every attitude and gesture 
when^the presence of Jehovah is seen. So we expect a 
picture of grandeur now in the story. 

" And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. 
And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks. And 
in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the 
Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, 
and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. His head 
and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow ; 
and his eyes were as a flame of fire ; and his feet like 

IO 



2l8 ALPHA AND OMEGA. 

The mysterious symbols. Augustine's vision. 

unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace ; and his 
voice as the sound of many waters. And he had in his 
right hand seven stars ; and out of his mouth went a 
sharp two-edged sword : and his countenance was as 
the sun shineth in his strength. ,, 

I do not suppose there is any use in our trying thor- 
oughly to understand this spectacle. It is easy to point 
out the symbols found in the description. " Hairs 
white like wool " must signify venerableness ; " eyes as 
a flame of fire" must mean omniscience ; the " two- 
edged sword " indicates justice ; the "voice as the sound 
of many waters " might suggest power ; and the " coun- 
tenance as the sun shining in his strength " certainly in- 
timates holiness. Still I think the scene loses rather 
than gains by such an analysis. It does not seem easy 
to give or to gain any proper conception of God. 

At the head of one of the chapters of " Daniel Deron- 
da" stands this motto : "The beginning of an acquain- 
tance, whether with persons or things, is to get a defi- 
nite outline for our ignorance." It is better that we 
spend our efforts in using what we do know of the al- 
mighty Being who made us, rather than in exhausting 
ourselves with curious inquiries after his mysteries. 
The celebrated surgeon Morgagni once let fall his scal- 
pel in the midst of a dissection, and exclaimed : " Oh, 
that I could simply love God as well as I know him ! " 

In one of the Continental galleries is an exquisite 
painting by Murillo, entitled, "The Vision of Saint 
Augustine." It represents a dream of this great father 



ALPHA AND OMEGA. 219 

The mystery of God. John abashed. 

of the church, narrated by himself. He tells us that 
while busied in writing his discourse upon the Trinity, 
he wandered along the seashore wrapped in meditation. 
Suddenly he beheld a child, who, having dug a hole in 
the sand, appeared to be bringing water from the sea to 
fill it. Augustine inquired what was the object of his 
task ? He replied that he intended to empty into this 
cavity all the waters of the great deep. Of course the 
philosopher exclaimed " Impossible ! " But the boy an- 
swered, "Not more impossible, surely, than for thee, O 
Augustine, to explain the mystery on which thou art 
meditating ! " There is a theme for any chastened and 
thoughtful imagination ! See that tall figure in priestly 
robes, on the border of the sea, looking pitifully down 
upon the Divine Child — the infant Christ — holding in 
his slender hand his scoop of shell, his ladle, his small 
bowl of water, while he looks up so wise with the ma- 
jesty of a sweet suggestion of rebuke in his gentle face ! 

III. What was the encouragement which John re- 
ceived ? 

Evidently he needed something of the sort ; for his 
attitude shows he was as much abashed and frightened 
as was Isaiah when he saw the Almighty throned in the 
temple. He is frank in owning it: "And when I saw 
him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right 
hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not ; I am the first 
and the last : I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and, 
behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the 
keys of hell and of death." 



220 ALPHA AND OMEGA. 

Christ always the same. Robert Hall's remark. 

Here is offered nothing more nor less than what was 
spoken at first by the trumpet. He was to comfort him- 
self with what had just now alarmed him. Jesus Christ 
w^as set for the fall and the rising again. The truth 
which most humiliates the human soul is the truth which 
uplifts it. In his person and offices Christ the Redeem- 
er is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

What poor weak men want to know more than any- 
thing else, is that the Saviour who offers himself for 
their redemption is surely going to stand steadily true 
in what he engages to the end, and beyond any conceiv- 
able end which mortality may bring to themselves. We 
have a dim consciousness that we shall never shed our 
immortality. We cannot get annihilation even by court- 
ing it. Some provision, therefore, must be made for a 
vast future. Here comes in Robert Hall's grand re- 
mark : "We are all contemporaneous with God." But 
feebleness and inadequacy are our portion and our 
limit. Our Saviour has the fulness of the Godhead. 
We are petulant and perverse even under grace. His 
goodness is infinite, his love knows no tempers of chilli- 
ness or estrangement ; he has no frames of feeling ; his 
attributes and offices never become old or indis- 
tinct. 

In all the theophanies of the Old Testament, as well 
as in all the personal communications of the New, Jesus 
Christ appears exactly the same. The keenest of criti- 
cal eyes cannot find in him any flaw or caprice ; there 
are no inconsistencies for us to reconcile, no imperfec- 



ALPHA AND OMEGA. 221 

Chartres cathedral. New Testament and Old. 

tions for us to deplore. He was as kind to Abraham as 
he was to John. He had as sincere a sympathy for Ha- 
gar, as she cast her dying boy under a tree, as he had 
for the widow of Nain, when she followed her dead boy 
out on the bier. He was as forbearing with Moses as he 
was with Simon Peter. 

And this is what unites the Old Testament and the 
New closely together. The one supplements and com- 
pletes the other, because Jesus Christ in both is the 
same yesterday, to-day, and forever. 

In the ancient cathedral of Chartres there may be 
found upon the five windows over the south door a suc- 
cinct system of theology, according to the belief of the 
thirteenth century. The maiden of beautiful figure, 
who represents the Church or Religion, occupies the 
central place. Then, on one side, we see Jeremiah with 
St. Luke seated on his shoulders ; and, opposite this, 
we discover Ezekiel bearing St. John, and Daniel bear- 
ing St. Mark. This was a way those ancient ecclesias- 
tics had of saying that the New Testament rested on the 
Old. Prophets supported evangelists. The predictions 
of the one tallied with the realities of the other. 

IV. What was the command which John obeyed ? 

So he now discovered that the vision and the voice 
were for others as well as for himself : " Write the things 
which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the 
things which shall be hereafter. " The whole Apocalypse 
is now before us. It is enough here to indicate a few 
of the revelations it specially contains. 



222 ALPHA AND OMEGA. 

The word "eternity." Jesus in the Proverbs. 

i. The glory of the almighty God is without begin- 
ning and without end. Whether it was meant or not, 
the fact is significant that the word "eternity" occurs 
but once in our English Bible. A solitary verse em- 
ploys it to speak of the residence of Jehovah. " For 
thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eter- 
nity, whose name is Holy ; I dwell in the high and holy 
place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble 
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive 
the heart of the contrite ones." Hence, there are two 
heavens of glory where God deigns to show his splen- 
dor, revealed by this solemn, wonderful word — the puri- 
fied paradise and the purified heart. 

2. The glory of Jesus Christ is in the presence of the 
Father, and likewise without beginning and without 
end. Where was the Saviour previous to his incarna- 
tion ? Perhaps it will give to some Bible readers a sur- 
prise to be told that the best answer to this question is 
given in the unfamiliar book of Proverbs (chapter 8) : 
"The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, 
before his works of old. . . . While as yet he had not 
made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of 
the dust of the world. . . . Then I was by him, as one 
brought up with him : and I was daily his delight, re- 
joicing always before him." If we simply understand 
that the Wisdom of the Old Testament means the same 
as the Word of the New — the divine Logos — then we 
shall put another verse of John easily alongside : " In 
the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with 



ALPHA AND OMEGA. 223 

The word 4k family." Forever with the Lord. 

God, and the Word was God. The same was in the be- 
ginning with God." 

3. The glory of the saints is to be with Jesus Christ ; 
it begins with the new birth, and then is without end. 
Here again it is interesting to remark that the word 
" family " occurs only once in our New Testament, and 
then it means the household of the saved. Says the 
apostle Paul : " For this cause I bow my knees unto the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole 
family in heaven and earth is named, that he would 
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be 
strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner 
man." 

4. The glorified Saviour desires his friends to share 
whatever glory he possesses, and that without end. 
When Christ was on the mountain transfigured, he 
caused that two Old Testament saints should appear 
with him in glory, in order that the world might know 
where the redeemed were dwelling centuries after death. 
And in the final intercession, the last prayer we know 
of his making, Jesus asked this: " And now, O Father, 
glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory 
which I had with thee before the world was. . . . 
Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, 
be with me where I am ; that they may behold my glory, 
which thou hast given me ; for thou lovedst me before 
the foundation of the world." 



XX. 

THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith 
UNTO THE CHURCHES.— Revelation 3: 6. 

This phrase, in precisely the same form, occurs seven 
times in the opening chapters of the Apocalypse. It is 
repeated at the end of each one of a series of brief, 
weighty epistles, addressed to the circle of primitive 
congregations founded in Asia Minor. 

We may readily conceive that Christians of all ages 
and all climes are meant to be taught by the examples 
here quoted, and the counsels here given. There is the 
declension of Ephesus, and the idolatry of Pergamos ; 
there is the deadness of Sardis, and the repulsive luke- 
warmness of Laodicea : and by these we are warned. 
And then there is the fidelity of Philadelphia and the 
steadfastness of Smyrna : and by these we are encour- 
aged. And beyond even these, there is the tree of life 
promised, the white stone with the name kept secret 
upon it, and that morning star, which he shall receive 
who endureth to the end ; and by these we are ani- 
mated with new energy in overcoming the world. It 
seems, indeed, as if the warning, the encouragement, 
and the inspiration, were aimed at the same result ; 
namely, to impress upon our minds the unusually se- 



THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 22 5 

Organic life. The " angel." 

rious admonition that we listen to "what the Spirit saith 
unto the churches." 

Let us inquire, therefore, at once, what does the Spirit 
say ? What has the Holy Ghost so uttered in the hear- 
ing of the world ? 

I. Earliest of all the lessons suggested to us in these 
epistles, we might note this : Every church of Christ 
has an organic life of its own. This is not only distinct 
from the life of any ether church, but even distinct from 
the life of its members. 

In all these seven letters the churches are addressed 
solely in their organic capacity — not as loose and disin- 
tegrated masses of persons, but as bodies having an his- 
toric existence and an exclusive responsibility. The 
apostle is not bidden to write to the believers at large 
in those cities, but the congregations as such. 

The expressions are very peculiar. In his opening 
sentence, in every case, he turns first to a personage 
called "the angel of the church." Who this officer was 
cannot now certainly be known. He was doubtless one 
of the pastors, a minister high in authority and influ- 
ence, standing — for the time being, at any rate — at the 
head of the organization. To him the counsel was 
given ; upon him the sin was charged ; for him the 
praise was brought ; with him was left the responsibility 
of bearing the tidings, giving the admonitions, and di- 
recting the penitence and prayers of the people. 

The relevancy of this lesson lies just here. It is per- 
haps one of the most noticeable of the faults of mod- 

IO* 



226 THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 

No evasion of duty. Organic history. 

ern Christians, wherever we turn our eyes, that they 
are trying to lose their individuality in the mass, hop- 
ing thereby to evade responsibility and to shirk duty. 
Whereas God does not even suffer, much less intend, 
any man shall become inconspicuous by merging him- 
self in an aggregate, or hiding himself in a crowd. To 
sink a Christian out of responsibility by absorbing him 
into a church, is like sinking a soldier in an army, and un- 
dertaking to lose him in a platoon ; he only passes under 
more rigid rules and only shows more conspicuously. 

II. A second lesson comes right on in the exact line 
that this indicates, and confirms it : every church has an 
organic history of its own, which very likely makes up 
its annals. 

Take, for illustration, the first of the churches men- 
tioned in the list, the old church in Ephesus. Thirty 
years had passed since that time when the apostle Paul 
indited to those people the letter now r known in the 
Bible as the Epistle to the Ephesians. A generation 
had fallen into their graves. The congregation had all 
this time been changing and moulding. How many 
private and personal histories had been concentrated 
into its life ! Through such a period as that, how inevi- 
tably its annals must have perpetuated the lines of reli- 
gious biography in that wicked city ! How few now re- 
mained of those men who burned their wonderful books 
of magic when the first revival brought them to see their 
sin ! How the community must have altered in which 
they had been living and working ! 



THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 227 

The church at Ephesus. Biographies in history. 

Good and bad, rich and poor, lofty and lowly — how 
they had dropped each into his own grave at last ! And 
now those uproarious voices which for the space of two 
hours, on the day the church was organized, had shouted 
so ridiculously, " Great is Diana of the Ephesians ! " were 
all silent, hushed in the majesty and mystery which death 
confers upon those who enter its halls, the small and 
great. 

Get some aged people together on an anniversary, and 
a quiet stranger might soon ascertain that every church 
has a special history just as striking as these had in Asia 
Minor, and as precious. The annals of any church in- 
troduce and absorb the individual histories of its mem- 
bers and influential adherents. So rapidly and so im- 
perceptibly do the parts become supplanted that the 
annual aggregates never feel a shock. In one year, 
doubtless, there was a man whose behavior or misfor- 
tunes gave the people a world of trouble : in another 
year, there was a man who gave them a world of help. 
A family clique arose one season which forced a mean 
division ; there was a blessed revival another season 
w r hich just saved a wreck. So all this went into the 
general history, and every event made fresh marks. 
One man failed in business, and that shook the church 
badly ; then a man grew suddenly wealthy, and that 
saved the church. 

Let us stop and think how vital, how positively alive 
and instinct with nervous and palpitating existence, 
every established organization comes eventually to be. 



228 THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 

Stand by the ark. Organic characteristic. 

" This and that man was born in her." Memories of 
youth and age, of bloom and wasting, of joy height- 
ened and trial assuaged, of doubt cleared away, of 
penitence accepted — all are sure to cluster around the 
dear remembered spiritual home. Here the child was 
trained, who now is a man. Here stood the bride 
wearing her fair veil and fairer forehead in maiden 
beauty, who now sleeps in her shroud. Here rested the 
coffin of one beloved father or mother in Israel, who to- 
day shines aloft in the light of God's love. Here rested 
another, by the side of which charity stood in silence, 
while mourners held their peace. 

And so what a comfort it is, as our steps grow weary, 
to believe our children will stand by the old ark of our 
hopes, and all along the years will step up proudly and 
affectionately under the burden in the solemn hour when 
we are going to drop it ; and thus a church we have 
loved and prayed for will hold them still ! 

III. Thus we reach a third lesson ; every church has 
an organic characteristic of its own, and this is derived 
from the social and personal life of those who compose 
and manage it. 

It is the members that make the church. We observe 
that in every case these seven congregations are ad- 
dressed with a peculiar allusion to some description, 
which in strict propriety belonged to each one of them 
in turn. Just as we speak familiarly of those various 
congregations with which we are acquainted, all of us 
understanding that each has a personal singularity, 



THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 229 

Quick outlines. Rock-layers in quarries. 

which might perhaps be mentioned with a word : one 
is rich, one is poor ; one formerly was fashionable, one 
is growing proud, one is liberal, another is aristocratic, 
and another is always having trouble about pew-rents, 
and another is ruined by the women that gossip so. In 
just this way these bright little epistles delineate graphi- 
cally the various churches they were sent to, and give 
them quick outlines upon our imaginations. You know 
now, if you have ever happened seriously to observe it, 
precisely what sort of a church that was in any one of 
these places. Smyrna was poor and persecuted ; Perga- 
mos was on the whole true, but heterodox at points ; 
Ephesus was courageous, but had left first love ; Laodi- 
cea was sickishly lukewarm. 

All this, we understand, was just what the members 
made the church. Just as when we split a rock in a 
quarry into layers, traces will be found in it of lines 
which the sea-waves made there ages ago while the sand 
was washed into place by the tides and compacted into 
stone ; — so when we read the annals of any old congre- 
gation, we shall find how certain epochs were fashioned. 
Sometimes it was the half-dozen elders that gave form 
to all the church life. Sometimes the deacons drew a 
line of demarcation. Sometimes a few restless women, 
sometimes a few uncomfortable men, set the congrega- 
tion on fire. Sometimes little factions of malcontents 
swelled and swayed the periods in which they flourished. 
Sometimes it was the sewing-society, and very often it 
was the choir. And always — for amazing and immeasu- 



230 THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 

Corporations with souls. Organic power. 



rable good or ill — it was the pastorates along in turn 
that gained irresistible force and importance. 

We sometimes say " corporations have no souls." 
Now here is a corporation which has a soul. It seems 
to be alive, to have veins and arteries and nerves. The 
church is the Bride of the celestial Lamb. Public sen- 
timent fixes fashionable forms for brides and churches 
somewhat alike. Our lives and tastes and feelings go 
into the organizations w^hich we manage. So any man 
who comes in contact with a church of the living God, 
who accepts its ordinances, uses its activities, who aids 
in its support, who enjoys even the shadow of it falling 
on his path, is very close to God ! 

IV. We have reached, therefore, the fourth lesson 
taught in these brief epistles ; namely, that every 
church has an organic power of its own. This ability 
for usefulness is entirely distinct from, and superadded 
to, the influence exerted by individuals. 

In union there is strength. Under our laws congre- 
gations usually become corporate bodies. They can 
thus appear in the courts, can negotiate contracts, can 
hold property, can undertake projects of good. We 
have no reason to suppose that there was anything pre- 
cisely like this in Asia Minor, where all the churches 
mentioned in these chapters were located. Yet they 
were none the less compact and corporate for all that. 
They instituted missions, they provided for impoverished 
believers, in their own name. They seem to have been 
officered and equipped for each form of outward work. 



THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 23 1 

Force in a unit. A hunter's rifle. 

The fact is, organic life does not reside in a mere 
technic of law. Sooner or later every congregation 
would go out into merited extinction, whose only living 
existence consisted in the decorous deeds of an orderly 
board of trustees. Church life is figuratively that which 
abides in a vine, and that true Vine must be our Lord 
Jesus Christ. Such life has greater force, because it 
absorbs Christ's life into it, and wields the might of him 
who is its head. 

We are sometimes caught by the manifestations of 
power exhibited by even one man in a community. 
Whenever any movement is on foot, that has any good 
for its aim, we instinctively inquire what does this man 
think of it ? We feel assured that any plan is feasible, 
any purpose is worthy, when he commits his name to it. 
When in our times of perplexity we are on the search 
for some ingenuity which shall bring relief in difficult 
endeavor, generally we begin to be encouraged in pro- 
portion to the cheer of his calls for us to come on, heard 
hopefully in the distance on ahead of us. Just as hunt- 
ers out in the forest, finding their shots for game unsuc- 
cessful, feel kindled now and then as they hear the re- 
port of one well-known rifle, which, as they have learned, 
is never wont to ring in the woods for nothing. So do 
we love to listen to the joyous tone of that true man's 
voice, planning with us and in our behalf. 

That is what I mean by power. If one man can do 
so much for any real cause, how much more a church, 
speaking like five hundred men in one, can do ! Put a 



232 THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 

Actual levers in society. Organic mortality. 

good, firm, true body of Christian people into the midst 
of any growing neighborhood ; let them begin, at the 
earliest outgo of their organic life, to be liberal, pa- 
triotic, public-spirited ; charitable towards others, and 
faithful unto themselves ; always on the right side of 
everything that is honest and of good report. In a lit- 
tle while, they will gain the confidence of all who are 
around them. And this course, diligently pursued for 
a term of years, will eventually make that congregation 
one of the actual levers of society. The result is inevi- 
table by natural law. Real power goes with real force. 
And real power is as irresistible as the tides in the sea, 
or the changes in the climate. The moment any useful 
project has been started, people will ask the quiet ques- 
tion : How stands such and such a congregation ? What 
is it going to do ? The answ r er settles success or fail- 
ure. A chapel of ease for " retired Christians " is a poor 
thing. 

V. Finally, there is given us here the lesson that 
every church has an organic mortality of its own. It is 
possible for it to become actually extinct, whenever it 
is cast out by God. 

There is nothing superstitiously self-preserving in a 
religious body of human beings ; the favor of high 
Heaven alone keeps it in existence ; and if that favor 
be forfeited through sin, any congregation can die. 
This point is made clear enough among these epistles 
to the seven churches. In two instances the warnings 
take explicit form: "I will remove the candlestick." 



THE MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES. 233 

Churches dead. The star-fish. 

And the tremendous fact lies now on historic record, 
that of all these seven organizations not one — not even 
a vestige of one — remains. They would not hear nor 
heed what the Spirit said unto them. Their very land 
has become missionary ground. There is not a Chris- 
tian in Ephesus. Thyatira, in its desolation, has no 
memory of Lydia, that converted seller of purple. Sar- 
dis is abandoned, and Philadelphia has ceased to be the 
home of brotherly love. 

They say there is a star-fish in the Caledonian lakes, 
sometimes dredged up from the deep water. It looks 
firm and strong, most compactly put together. But the 
moment you pull off one of its many branching limbs, 
no matter how small it may be, the singular creature 
begins itself to dislocate the rest with wonderful celerity 
of contortions, throwing away its radiate arms and jerk- 
ing from their sockets its members, until the entire body 
is in shapeless wreck and confusion of death, and noth- 
ing remains of what was one of the most exquisitely 
beautiful forms in nature, save a hundred wriggling 
fragments, each repulsive, and dying by suicide. 

So went those seven fair churches into sudden and 
remediless ruin. So any church may go. Once re- 
jected of God, congregations generally hurry themselves 
into dissolution with reckless bickering and quarrels ; 
and the end comes swiftly. 



XXL 

THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not de- 
filed THEIR GARMENTS | AND THEY SHALL WALK WITH ME IN 
white: for they are worthy. — Revelation 3: 4. 

Indistinct memories, classic and historic, float in our 
minds at the mention of the name of Sardis. There 
dwelt and reigned Croesus, the richest man in the world. 
There ran the Pactolus, whose flashing stream was 
fabled to flow down golden sands. There, in the plains 
near by, was marshaled the most numerous host that 
ever obeyed a single commander ; the army over which 
proud Xerxes wept as he remembered not one soldier 
would be left living in a hundred years. And there was 
lifted the mountain head of Sipylus, upon whose rocky 
summit was once to be seen the far-famed Niobe, the 
weeping mother changed into stone. 

But gone now is all the glory of that magnificent capi- 
tal. The armies are vanished, and the kings lie in for- 
gotten graves in the desolate cemetery of the Thousand 
Hills. The Pactolus turns a lazy mill. Croesus is im- 
mortal only to point a proverb. And no vestige of the 
Niobe remains, save one that is as symbolically fitting 
as it is undoubtedly authentic — the hot spring which the 
old story declared was fed from her tears. 



THE FEW IN SARDIS. 235 

Only a name to live. "Names " mean souls. 

Who earliest founded the Christian church in Sardis 
is not certainly known. One bold, startling epistle 
among the seven written by the last of the apostolic 
band from the Lonely Isle, is directed to the professed 
followers of the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in the pre- 
cincts. It is from this that we learn their wretched state. 
They were cold, listless, and formal. Vital piety was 
dying rapidly out. The great mass of Christians in 
the city were without any comforts or spiritual force. 
They had only a name that they lived, and were dead. 
It is not said they were scandalous, but sluggish. 

Still, not all : an honorable moiety among the many 
are mentioned as deserving of confidence and as likely 
to receive favor. "Thou hast a few names even in 
Sardis which have not defiled their garments ; and 
they shall walk with me in white : for they are wor- 
thy." 

It is not with the many, but with these few, that we 
have to do to-day. And we really at this moment pass 
away from the contemplation of Sardis as such, accept- 
ing this single verse as a vivid description of the true 
followers of the Saviour in all time. If you will care- 
fully examine the passage, you will perceive that it in- 
cludes four particulars, each of which may profitably 
occupy our attention for a little while in turn, and will 
perhaps suggest a lesson of good to thoughtful minds 
willing to hear and to heed it. 

I. The first of these is the rarity of those who are the 
true saints on the earth. There were "a few names 



236 THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

Rarity of saints. " So remarkable for nothing." 

even in Sardis." It is wise to remember, and yet sad to 
confess, that there are only a few such anywhere. 

For the real standard of discrimination in this matter 
is loftier than many imagine. It is easy to distinguish in 
the Christian world around us two widely differing classes 
of persons ; the one, made up of those who advance ear- 
nestly into life, and almost instantaneously assume and 
honorably hold positions of importance and usefulness ; 
the other, made up of those who never rise into notice 
at all, but constantly remain in comparative inefficiency 
and insignificance. Those make their influence to be 
felt upon their generation and leave their mark behind 
them ; these produce no impression while living, and 
dying make no sign. The former grow up loving, 
lovely, and beloved, and are the " sought out" among 
the many " forsaken ; " the latter give reason for the sar- 
castic saying " they are remarkable for nothing so much 
as for the fact that they are so remarkable for nothing." 

There are palpably two styles of piety in the church 
of our Redeemer. I do not assert that he allows them 
both, or accepts them equally ; nor that their results are 
alike lofty or safe ; I only recognize what most people 
observe as a fact. The one is vital, active, and efficient ; 
the other is torpid, listless, and low. And between 
these two extremes are found all grades of activity and 
all degrees of devotion. But sadly the truth presses on 
every mind that it is the many who are sluggish and 
fruitless : it is only the few who are faithful. The most 
careless of all observers cannot have failed to see that 



THE FEW IN SARDIS. 237 

" Retired Christians." God's hidden ones. 

of any church or community only one man here and an- 
other yonder belongs to what might be called the posi- 
tive workers, minding and managing the weightiest in- 
terests. A little band of executive laborers produce 
what each year gathers. 

The glory of the church has, therefore, ever been and 
will doubtless ever be these "few" among the many. 
There was a Noah among the antediluvians. There was 
a Lot among the citizens of the plain. There were the 
three Hebrew youths in the Babylonish court. There 
were the seven thousand in Ahab's time, who had not 
bowed the knee to Baal. And there were some saints 
in Caesar's household in Rome. So there are, doubt- 
less, in most of the forms of ecclesiastical organization, 
however heterodox and loose, some who are living lives 
of saving faith in Jesus Christ, and belong to the "hid- 
den ones " of God. 

But it is these few who save the many. Ten right- 
eous men in Sodom would have delivered the city from 
the hail of fire. The worth cannot be estimated of any 
one individual who is truly faithful to the Master. It is 
the rarity which increases the value. Common gems 
make cheap jewels. A Christian really alive amid the 
deadness of our too formal communions, is a treasure 
and a choice benediction from God himself. We find 
that out sometimes for the first time when a good man 
dies. We discover that a great cause is trembling ; and 
then it occurs to us that this is what he used to stand 
by and steady. We see the enemy coming in through a 



238 THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

Vanished hands. Voices that are still. 

gate he was wont to guard. A duty is no longer done, 
which we had always relied without disappointment on 
him to perform. We are conscious that our poor hearts 
are sinking and growing weaker, through lack of his 
prayers, and our souls are growing dull from want of 
the old chieftaincy of example which kindled them. We 
miss the words of wise counsel and gentle sympathy 
and cordial reassurance with which we had always been 
met. When we come up to look in each other's faces, 
and take each other s hands, and cast a quick glance of 
wistful searching, almost unconsciously, around for that 
other face and that other hand — gone, then we begin to 
feel the blankness of a sense of loss. A score of the 
many cannot take the place — they worry us if they at- 
tempt to occupy the place — of even one of the "few." 
Consecrated, forceful, Christian, manhood is rare, rare 
indeed in this shallow and easy-going world. 

II. In the second place, this verse which we are study- 
ing tells us, next to the rarity of true saints, their purity. 
They "have not defiled their garments." 

Of course we all understand the precise force of this 
figure. Just as a man, clad in a robe of linen, seeks 
with great carefulness to pass undefiled through the 
dust, the smoke, and the ashes of a factory or a fur- 
nace, so the child of God is represented as endeavoring 
fastidiously to keep his garments of hope and faith, of 
meekness, truth, and honesty, free from all contamina- 
tion, even while he is mingled in the confused round of 
everyday life with other men, better or worse. You 



THE FEW IN SARDIS. 239 

Spiritual lepers. Commonplace tests. 

perceive that this is the ancient emblem repeated from 
the Old into the New Testament. Is there not some- 
thing singularly suggestive in the name always given to 
sin under the former dispensation ? There it was called 
"uncleanness." He who had transgressed any law was 
held to be " defiled." Hence all those washings, those 
" divers baptisms " of the ritual. Ah, if only spiritual 
lepers had now, as of old, to keep crying " unclean, un- 
clean ! " in the highways, as they drew near their neigh- 
bors, how plaintive the air would be with the wails of 
the penitent ! 

Our trouble is, that we turn ourselves away from the 
grand commonplaces of religious life, under the plea 
that we are spiritual and live on an elevated plane. We 
do not sing the fifteenth Psalm as we might. It is not 
interesting to talk about backbiting and swearing and 
usury and false witness. Such details concerning world- 
liness are too radical, too searching, for this generation 
to bear. To make truth-telling an evidence of regen- 
eration ; to question grown men about ungenerous gos- 
sip ; to offer mercantile Christians the subject of exor- 
bitant interest for meditation in the preparatory lecture ; 
all this would be pronounced out of taste in the age of 
conversation concerning the "higher life." 

But, it so happens that the Scriptures fasten precisely 
upon our little personal habits and tastes and behaviors 
and principles, and make them the test of piety. Holi- 
ness of life is relied upon more than vividness of expe- 
riences. Nothing within the range of human possibil- 



240 THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

Tae priest Jaddua. Cecil's temptation. 

ity so moves the world into admiration of Christians as 
perfect purity. There is in history the tale of Alexan- 
der, who was met, when he came to besiege Jerusalem, 
by the high priest Jaddua ; this old man went forth to 
hold conference with him. He wore his robes of office ; 
and so splendid was the presence of this ambassador of 
God with his garments of embroidered gold and his 
shining plate across his forehead on which was graven 
the name of Jehovah, that the emperor fell to the ground 
in reverence. That may well have been true ; it makes 
us think of the scriptural fact that the Roman soldiers, 
coming to apprehend our Lord in the garden after the 
betrayal, "went backward and fell to the ground," the 
moment he said, " I am he." There was an undoubted 
majesty in the pure face and the spotless holiness of the 
suffering Master. 

This is a day of dreadful sudden scandals among the 
followers of Jesus. " Men fall," said the shrewd Guizot,. 
"on the side to which they lean." The world is not a 
friend to grace at all. In his autobiography the honest 
Cecil tells us that, on one occasion, he went to visit an 
anxious sinner in his parish ; he found him on a sick 
bed, and there was on the wall above the couch a paint- 
ing so beautiful as to attract his notice, and he actually 
forgot himself in administering to the wants of the per- 
ishing soul. He was so grieved by the dereliction that 
he gave up forever a gallery of art he had been loving 
to frequent. It may be our privilege to use the world, 
but we are not to abuse it, or be abused by it. 



THE FEW IN SARDIS. . 241 

The saints' prospect. The land of " the living." 

III. Let us, however, go back to the verse once 
more ; for it suggests to us, in the third place, the pros- 
pect of the saints : the confident and scriptural expec- 
tation of these few among the many, who have lived the 
pure life; "and they shall w r alk with me in white." 
Remember, now, w r ho is speaking, and where he is, and 
you will see that this emphatic declaration includes 
three promises in one: activity — "they shall walk:" 
companionship — "they shall walk w r ith me : " and glory — 
"they shall walk with me in white." 

1. The word here rendered "walk " means to accom- 
pany around. Thence it is applied by an easy trope to 
living with, sharing the continuous lot of, one with 
whom we dwell. It here presents to us the animating 
anticipation of all the true children of God, that they 
have yet before them an endless life in the midst of the 
many incitements and amenities of the social commu- 
nity in heaven. 

In our feebleness and mistake we sometimes look 

upon those who are taken from us as dead ; whereas, 

the correct conception is that they have never been so 

much alive as now. An aged believer was met by his 

friend, who, grasping his hand, said, "Why, I had not 

thought you w r ere in the land of the living!" "I am 

not yet," was the clearer answer, "but I shall enter it 

soon." Those who are gone are preserved, those who 

are departed are at home, those who are lost are saved. 

"That which thou sowest is not quickened except it 

die." In all the plenitude of enjoyment, in all the ex- 
11 



242 THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

Brahma asleep. Not work, but worry. 

ercise of powers newly invigorate, in the very sunlight 
of reunion and communion, they are walking this very 
day in an exalted existence, of which w r e know nothing 
as yet but the glimmer of its gladness through the trans- 
lucent gates of pearl. Said the dying Taylor, " God 
has a work even in heaven for his children to do." 

For even the "rest" of heaven is not a repose of in- 
dolent listlessness and inaction. The Hindoos believe 
that the great god Brahma spends the infinite ages of 
his eternity evermore asleep. And their most exalted 
notions of the state of the blessed are only clustered 
around one lazy anticipation of sharing the slumbers of 
this deified sluggard. But our Bible tells us that the 
"works" of the righteous do "follow them." Our 
trouble here is, not the energy we put forth, but the 
waste of it, and the thwarting of it, and the needlessness 
of much of it. It is not work, but worry, that breaks 
the human heart ; and in heaven there will be work 
without worry. "Therefore are they before the throne 
of God, and they serve him day and night in his tem- 
ple." So the Christian's departure is only a sign of re- 
lief. "Children," said John Wesley's mother, "when 
I am released, sing a psalm of praise to God ! " 

2. "They shall walk with me:" the companionship 
is that of Christ himself, for it is he that is here speak- 
ing. And hence, we see that what the saints have been 
sighing for most longingly, earnestly pleading that they 
might have it even for one glad hour of nearness and 
communion — that they are by and by to have without 



THE FEW IN SARDIS. 243 

Moses' prayer. The transfiguration. 

interruption and in full measure forever, the presence 
of the Saviour in person. "Things internal," says the 
good Bishop Leighton, "will then be things eternal." 

On the mountain prayed Moses, "Show me, O Lord, 
thy glory ! " Not then could his petition be granted ; 
he could not look upon the Lord's face and live. Fif- 
teen hundred years he had to w r ait, and then upon an- 
other mountain he saw the transfigured Christ. He 
was satisfied then to behold the glory and to share it. 
Around him in that wonderful hour he contemplated 
the true picture of heaven. For there w r ere Peter, 
James, and John, from the new dispensation, with him- 
self and Elijah from the old ; three disciples from the 
living and two prophets from the dead ; all appearing 
in glory, knowing each other, and giving exchange of 
welcome. But the chief attraction in the scene was 
found in the person of the Son of Man among them, 
now clearly revealed as the Son of God ; and they 
talked "of the decease he should accomplish at Jerusa- 
lem." 

So when the entire church of Immanuel come home ; 
when the patriarchs and seers of old, with the martyrs 
and witnesses of after years, meet on the mount of God ; 
when, .gathered from the four winds, all the sealed shall 
crown the summit of the heavenly hill ; they will have 
but one song to sing, and one form to look upon ; lift- 
ing up their eyes, they will see "Jesus only." 

3. In the use of the expression with which this prom- 
ise closes most of us will recognize the return of the 



244 THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

Walking " in white." " Fine linen." 

beautiful figure we have already considered: " They 
shall walk with me in white." It is the symbol of glory 
hereinafter to be revealed to believers. 

In his earthly transfiguration, the face of our Lord 
"did shine as the sun, and his raiment was w T hite as the 
light ; so as no fuller on earth could whiten it." Such 
descriptions refer to the stainless, uncontaminated pu- 
rity of those who are living in the celestial life. When 
it is said that to the Lamb's wife, that is, the Church, it 
was "granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen 
clean and white," we are told expressly the symbolic 
reason: "The fine linen is the righteousness of the 
saints." Those whom the New Testament seer in apo- 
calyptic vision beheld arrayed in the heavenly gar- 
ments, one of the elders told him were "they whicl) 
came out of great tribulation, and had w r ashed their 
robes, and had made them w T hite in the blood of the 
Lamb." 

Hence, here are two thoughts distinctly suggested, 
each of which has great value. The one is, that the 
glory of that future state is not so much in its triumphs 
and trophies as in its graces. The glory is its sinless- 
ness, its perfect freedom from all pollution. So it is of 
much more importance w T hat we shall be y than what we 
shall have. Then the other thought is, that holiness 
here is its own rew r ard here and yonder too. For it is 
those w T ho "have not defiled their garments," of whom 
it is said, " they shall walk with me in white." White 
now, white forever ! 



THE FEW IN SARDIS. 245 

Sardian dyes. " Purple vats. 

Now, before we leave this most interesting figure, let 
us be patient enough to ask the question whether there 
was any particular reason why the apostle should choose 
such a curious form of rhetorical speech. It is worth 
mentioning that Sardis w T as as historically remarkable 
for its purple and crimson dyes as Thyatira. John may 
have more than once seen the white linen brought up to 
these vast vats filled with the red fluid, looking exactly 
like blood ; he must have watched the operation of 
plunging the cloth in, and seen how the previous stains, 
if such there were, were all covered and lost in that royal 
red. Now, by an easily understood process of mind, he 
would imagine the work reversed ; he might even be 
supposed to repeat the words of the ancient prophet 
softly to himself, as he would keep thinking : " Christ's 
blood is not like this Sardian or Tyrian dye, that turns 
white to purple and gray to red ; it turns the dull and 
defiled into beauty, and the stained into purity : ' Come 
now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord : Though 
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow ; 
though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool ! ' " 

IV. So, finally, we reach the words in this verse which 
specify the prerogative of the saints. Really, it covers 
much worth thinking about : their rarity, their purity, 
their prospect, and now their prerogative: "they are 
worthy." 

The significance of this statement takes its force from 
the connection in which it stands. For it is given as a 
reason for an expectation that they shall one time re- 



246 THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

" They are worthy." Desert and meetness. 

ceive the felicities of the heavenly companionship with 
the Lord Jesus Christ. "They shall walk with me in 
white, for they are worthy." One thing is their own ; 
one privilege belongs to them inalienably ; one prerog- 
ative is asserted in their behalf ; they are proper com- 
panions for God's Son. 

This sounds very bold, and a discrimination is per- 
haps needed to guard against mistake. We must care- 
fully examine in what this worthiness consists. There 
are two meanings to the word as used in the Scriptures : 
desert and meetness. Here it needs only to be said 
with all emphasis that there is no desert in any saint of 
anything beside wrath and judgment. There is, how- 
ever, a fitness for heaven, and this is the gift of grace 
as much as heaven itself is. The apostle bids us give 
"thanks to the Father, who hath made us meet to be 
partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light." 
This white robe that the redeemed are to wear is the 
robe of the Redeemer's merits. He gives it to those 
whom he loves. 

And when it is given, it belongs to them, and they 
need to ask no favors of the universe that sees the honor. 
For the promise and the benediction call to and answer 
each other out in the celestial air. Listen : " He that 
hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the 
churches ; To him that overcometh will I give to eat 
of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise 
of God." There is the proffer ; and here is the reward : 
" Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they 



THE FEW IN SARDIS. 247 

The saints' " right." " Rich as Croesus." 

may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in 
through the gates into the city.' , Oh, the glory of the 
thought that poor human beings — dust and ashes — are 
lifted so high by divine grace that they actually have 
prerogatives in celestial companionship which no crea- 
ture can challenge ! They can come up to the gate of 
heaven, and have a " right" to enter, as a king's son 
can come to the palace door, and no servant will claim 
to stop him, the prince and heir, from passing into his 
father's house ! 

This, then, is the believer's privilege and final out- 
look : to walk in the midst of stirring activities ever 
new, ever joyous, and ever successful ; sharing a com- 
munion with Christ ever free, high, hearty, and divine ; 
dwelling w T ith a conscious purity absolutely stainless 
among the unstained : this is heaven ! 

Such a conception takes all the sting out of death. 
A heart full of love for the Redeemer longs only to go 
to him. It has no great professions to make ; it simply 
wants to get away quietly, and leave the record of fidel- 
ity behind. "Never mind the dying testimony," said 
Whitefield ; " give me the living testimony." What is 
not true of the worldling is exactly true of the Christian. 
Come back to Sardis, a moment more for a little story. 
Croesus, this man who gave his name to a proverb, was 
at last conquered by an enemy. His capital was lost, 
his army was defeated, and he was about to be burned 
to death by his conqueror. While he was lying bound 
on the funeral pile, he called aloud three times the name 



248 THE FEW IN SARDIS. 

" Solon — Solon — Solon ! " The resurrection dawn. 

of Solon — Solon — Solon ! They asked him what he 
meant. And then it came out that this Athenian phil- 
osopher, once on a flying visit to Sardis, had warned 
Croesus of coming reverses, and bade him " never say- 
he w T as happy till he w r as dying ! " Now he was dying, 
and an awful sarcasm was in the words ! But this is 
actual Christian experience. The child of God is happy 
in death, for it is the ushering in of the latter-day glory 
upon his ransomed soul ! 

The first hour in the other w T orld must be full of sur- 
prises. I can imagine how the heir of some princely 
estate, thrown suddenly into possession, journeys to the 
mansion and arrives after the nightfall. I can picture 
his curious interest as he tries to ascertain the extent of 
his w T ealth, looking out from the window T into the moon- 
lit meadows and lawns. But what is all this to the sight 
he will see, when in the full burst of the morning his 
eyes take in the sweep of mountain and valley, forests 
and plains, from the wide ancestral portal thrown open 
to him as its lord ! 

Christians can talk here together in the night-time 
about their heavenly estate. But none have yet imag- 
ined what will be the completed vision to be seen w T hen 
at the resurrection dawn they stand before the door of 
what is their Father's house — and their own ! 



XXIL 

THE LION OF JUDAH. 

And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not : behold, 
the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath 
prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven 
SEALS THEREOF.— Revelation 5 : 5. 

It was reported some few years ago, that a Sabbath- 
school superintendent in one of our great cities rose in 
the midst of a convention and publicly prayed that "our 
Father in heaven would keep these little lambs of his 
flock from the ravages of the Lion of Judah ! " What 
must one do with a misconception like that ? 

The theme brought before us on this occasion is full 
of interest. It turns us back to the beginning of the 
Bible for an interpretation of a name given to our Sav- 
iour at the end. Genesis clear across eighteen hundred 
years touches the Apocalypse. The prophecy of Jacob 
finds its answer in the vision of John. 

When the time had arrived for the patriarch to turn 
his face to the wall, gather up his feet in the bed and 
die, he sent for an audience of his sons from all the far 
places of their abode. They came around their father's 
couch with something of sadness and perhaps of alarm ; 
for it was understood that their fortunes were to be told 
under inspiration, and Reuben was to be disinherited in 



250 THE LION OF JUDAH. 

Jacob's death-bed. John's vision. 

favor of Judah. One after another advanced at the call, 
heard those sober words of prediction that outlined and 
fixed his future, then reverently retired for a new 
brother's summoning. By and by, Judah stood in his 
place to listen ; and this is what Israel said : " Judah, 
thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise ; thy hand 
shall be in the neck of thine enemies : thy father's chil- 
dren shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's 
whelp ; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up : he 
stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion ; 
who shall rouse him up ? The sceptre shall not depart 
from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until 
Shiloh come ; and unto him shall the gathering of the 
people be." 

So explicit is the application of this name of Judah's 
I^ion to our Lord Jesus Christ here in the Apocalypse, 
that there is not even a pressing need to quote the half- 
verse in the epistle to the Hebrews : " For it is evident 
that our Lord sprang out of Judah." 

Let us attempt to study a whole chapter at a time — 
the fifth of Revelation. There we shall find an accurate 
account of a spectacle which the apostle John saw, that 
seems to have greatly aroused his curiosity ; this was 
followed by a conversation he heard, which evidently 
very seriously depressed his feelings ; but there came 
directly to him an encouragement which was calculated 
to lift his heart ; then he witnessed a scene of celestial 
worship, quite full of grandeur and wonder ; and this 
ended with a song sung by three extraordinary choirs. 



THE LION OF JUDAH. 25 1 

The celestial library. The book of Providence. 

I. The description of the spectacle he saw is found 
in the opening verse : " And I saw in the right hand of 
him that sat on the throne a book written within and 
on the back side, sealed with seven seals." The notice- 
able things here are the book and the seals of the book ; 
w T hat do these mean ? 

i. What we know of the book is conjectural. The 
idea suggested is that of a permanent record. Four 
volumes are mentioned in the Scriptures as belonging 
to God's celestial library, (i.) The " book of the liv- 
ing " — Ps. 69 : 28 — in which are enumerated all items of 
personal human history, as God has decreed them — Ps. 
139 : 16. (2.) The "book of the law," — Gal. 3 : 10 — in 
which are included all God's demands for obedience and 
duty. (3.) The "book of remembrance " — Mai. 3 : 16 — 
in which are noted all the incidents of each believer's 
continued experience — Ps. 56:8. (4.) The "book of 
life " — Phil. 4 : 3 — in which are recorded all the names 
of those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and no 
others — Rev. 20 : 15. Of these perhaps the likeliest to 
be the one John now saw in God's right hand w r as the 
first, containing the secret decrees of divine providence 
concerning human life and the destiny of nations. But 
no certainty can be predicated. And the sole sugges- 
tion to be relied upon is that our Maker, who is also our 
Judge, proceeds in all his government on no caprice, 
but on strict principles of justice, as of one who keeps 
books w r herein all things appear, and by which all souls 
are to be tested at the last. 



252 THE LION OF JUDAH. 

The seven seals. The challenge made. 

2. What we learn of the seals is plain. For there can 
be no significance to such a thing beyond what the an- 
cient custom would indicate, namely, that the book was 
closed. Divine purposes are absolutely inscrutable. 
Times and seasons, events and incidents, are concealed 
from human knowledge till it is God's will to reveal 
them. " Seven" was considered the perfect number; 
and this might mean that the volume was altogether 
sealed, or that it was sealed in an orderly way so as to 
be opened only a part at a time. 

II. Now comes the conversation which John heard. 
An angel made a challenge : no one accepted it : John 
burst into tears. " And I saw a strong angel proclaim- 
ing with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, 
and to loose the seals thereof ? And no man in heaven, 
nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open 
the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, 
because no man w T as found worthy to open, and to read 
the book, neither to look thereon. " 

i. A strong — some great chief — angel cries aloud for 
a chosen champion to appear w T ho would assume the 
right to open this volume. The question raised does 
not seem to be so much one of ability as of character 
or rank. Who is worthy ? The assumption is that Jeho- 
vah has no equal. This demand was calculated to ar- 
rest attention, and to fasten it upon the fact that "none 
but himself could be his parallel." 

2. No one advances at the call. Heaven had no an- 
gel even among the brightest seraphs that burned be- 



THE LION OF JUDAH. 253 

No one can interpret God. A man's tears. 

fore the throne : earth had no sage even among its wis- 
est, best, or most exalted : nor had hell under the earth, 
either of fallen angels or of lost men, any one who 
could come forward now, and unseal this mysterious 
volume. 

3. The apostle fell into tears. His disappointment 
was utter. His desire had been insatiate. Having seen 
so much through the open door, he w T ished passionately 
to see more. And now it was a shame that the universe 
had no voice which could speak to such a challenge. 
But note one thought for ourselves just here. It really 
appears pitiable to find such a man at his worst. Jere- 
miah was w r eeping ; but he had reason. Paul wept ; 
but he w T as talking of sinners. Jesus wept ; for he pit- 
ied the mourning sisters. But there was no need what- 
ever for John's tears. " He that believeth shall not make 
haste.'' John learned all he wished before long. 

III. What was the encouragement he received ? " And 
one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not : behold, the 
Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath pre- 
vailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals 
thereof." He was met w r ith no rebuke : but he received 
a word of sympathy, and then a word of information, 
both of which gave him help. 

1. The elder said " Weep not." Christ used to say to 
his disciples, "Be not afraid." The angel said to Paul 
in the night, "Fear not." The disciples said to Barti- 
meus, "Be of good comfort." Gabriel said to Daniel, 
"Thou art greatly beloved." Cynical irony has de- 



2 54 THE LION OF JUDAH. 

Just a kind word. The Lion is a Lamb. 

clared that words are cheap. But God has told believ- 
ing people to be kind to each other ; and sometimes just 
a word of good feeling lifts one's spirits very much. 

2. But what John wanted most was to understand 
about the mysteriously sealed book. So he had a word 
of explanation added. It was certainly to be opened. 
For the elder told him that a being would soon show 
himself — divine, as the Root of David — human, as the 
Lion of Judah — who should be worthy and be permitted 
to loosen the seven seals. John looked at once for the 
Lion ; he saw a Lamb. 

IV. And then followed the scene of wonderful wor- 
ship he witnessed. The vision now dazzles us too much 
for calm details of exposition. This Lamb of God we 
clearly understand was the Lord Jesus Christ our Sav- 
iour. Here we see him at his highest. 

i. His rank was supreme over all ; so he stood in the 
midst. "And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the 
throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the 
elders, stood a Lamb, as it had been slain, having seven 
horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of 
God sent forth into all the earth." Horns are the em- 
blem of power ; he had seven ; so he had perfect or lim- 
itless power. Eyes are the emblem of intelligence ; he 
had seven ; so he had perfect knowledge. And also he 
had the seven-fold gifts of the Holy Ghost. Hence, 
omnipotence, omniscience, and infinite holiness show 
that in Immanuel the Redeemer "dwelleth all the ful- 
ness of the Godhead bodily." 



THE LION OF JUDAH. 255 

Christ takes the book. A king's gift. 

2. His office was to ascertain and execute the entire 
will of Jehovah. And just here comes out the illustra- 
tion we need of the fortieth Psalm, in which the Mes- 
siah is represented as saying : " Then said I, Lo, I come : 
in the volume of the book it is written of me ; I delight 
to do thy will, O my God : yea, thy law is within my 
heart." So he comes forward now before the universe, 
and takes the seven-sealed volume as his own by right 
" And he came and took the book out of the right hand 
of him that sat upon the throne." 

3. His honors came at once, for he was "worthy." 
He had "prevailed." All the shining ranks of heaven 
fell down in meek obeisance and adoration: "And 
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four 
and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having 
every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, 
which are the prayers of saints." They had harps ; so 
they praised him with music ; they had vials of odors ; 
so they praised him with supplications. It is related 
that Alexander once bestowed a gift so large upon one 
of his courtiers that the surprised man cried out in de- 
precation, "Oh, this is too much for me to receive!" 
And the answer came with affectionate encouragement : 
"Always ask great things of a king; nothing is too 
much for him to give ! " 

This wonderful verse does not stand alone. On an- 
other occasion the apostle witnessed a similar scene : 
"And another angel came and stood at the altar, having 
a golden censer ; and there was given unto him much 



256 THE LION OF JUDAH. 

Prayers make best praises. Jesus is God. 



incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all 
saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. 
And the smoke of the incense, which came with the 
prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the 
angel's hand." Prayers to a God like ours sometimes 
make the very best praises. 

It is evident the chapter will have to be divided, and 
we reserve the song John heard for a study by itself. 
There are two at least of the thoughts which the spec- 
tacle suggests that I am glad to interject before we go 
on away from them. 

i. One of them is this : the announcement is made 
that earthly arrangements of providential government 
and keeping of the saints are hereafter committed to 
Jesus Christ. All human life is now ordered by his wis- 
dom. For he has taken the book out of the hands of 
his Father, and is "worthy" to open its seven-fold seals. 
Hence, the Being who manages each earthly experience 
is one who in his own person has shared humanity in 
all that disturbed history could put in it. How well he 
understands us, whoever we are ! 

So there is quite a good word of comfort here for the 
poor. There is no respect of persons with God. No 
peasant from the obscurest village — no shepherd from 
the most secluded plain — no artisan in the clean gar- 
ments of an honest calling — ever was kept waiting in 
the ante-chamber, asking audience of his Lord. He 
may have it any day, any instant, for the seeking: the 
publican had it in the parable, even when the Pharisee 



THE LION OF JUDAH. 257 

Watts' hymn. All goes into the book. 

missed. This king of heaven is Jesus ; and all the dis- 
pensations of daily life are with him. 

u Our souls shall tread the desert through with undiverted hot; 

And faith and flaming zeal subdue the terrors that we meet : 

A thousand savage beasts of prey around the forest roam, 

But Judah's Lion guards the way, and guides the wanderers home." 



So, likewise, there is a w T ord of encouragement here 
for those cumbered with much serving. More than once 
are such bidden to cast their care upon the Saviour ; and 
the wonderful invitation is backed with the argument 
that he " careth for them." Christ came not to be min- 
istered unto, but to minister. He took that book out 
of his divine Father's hand w T ith his Father's consent and 
in pursuance of a covenant. Hence, patient working- 
men that toil for bread — wives and mothers who seem 
to live just for children that are clamorous, feeble, and 
petulant — watchers who find their worried world w T ithin 
the four walls of a sick-room — nurses that strive to allay 
the querulous sorrows of a beloved invalid — industrious 
fathers, up with the early sunrise to be the first at labor, 
when jobs are few — all these have their very present 
help in every time of need. A tranquil eye is keep- 
ing watch of them, and all fidelity goes down in the 
book, and will be found there when the seven seals 
break ! 

How fine a thing it is to know that all w r hich any true 
Christian prizes is kept up so high and so far out of 
reach that no violence can touch it ! Jesus holds the 



258 THE LION OF JUDAH. 

The martyr Basil. The lamb as a symbol. 

book in his own hand, and we have the testimony of 
John that no one can open it besides. Our lives are 
hid, w T ith Christ, in God. Sometimes the w r orld imagines 
it has despoiled us of some cherished possession. It is 
like the thief's stealing our deeds of the homestead we 
live in ; that is all. He gets only a paper ; the deed is 
recorded in God's book ; and that which w r e owned is 
just as safe as ever. No child of God ever yet was de- 
spoiled of a good title to a home in " The Saints' Rest." 
The Christian's treasure is in heaven. Nothing earthly 
can lay a finger on it. " You may take away my head," 
said the old martyr Basil ; "but that is all ; you cannot 
take aw r ay my crown." 

2 Then the other thought is this : the Lamb of God 
is also the Lion of Judah. "Behold the goodness and 
severity of God." Much that is very significant there 
is in this name given to our Lord Jesus Christ. A lamb 
is the emblem of innocence and purity. Reference is 
made to his suffering on the cross, so far as the sacrifice 
is concerned. But as descriptive of his character, it 
may strike some as weak. For a lamb is almost the 
only creature in existence which has no w r eapon of of- 
fence or defence. This is designed to teach us how 
gentle and kind he is while he offers his grace. 

Furthermore, this form of speech here is very strange. 
This term rendered lamb occurs only once besides in the 
New Testament, and that is in the passage where Simon 
Peter is told to feed the Lord's lambs ; it is not the usual 
word for lambs ; it is a diminutive ; it means little lambs. 



THE LION OF JUDAH. 2 59 

The Lamb is a Lion. " The wrath of the Lamb." 

And so the added suggestion is given that Jesus is very 
innocent, and very gentle, and very kind. 

Now John looks for the Lamb, and the songs praise 
the Lamb ; but all the while, every soul in heaven knows 
he is a Lion. While the Saviour pleads with sinners, 
he is gentle and kind ; but when he comes to judgment, 
he will come with all his majesty upon him ! I know 
of no expression in the Bible that touches me so as this : 
"The wrath of the Lamb!" "And the kings of the 
earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the 
chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bond man, 
and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in 
the rocks of the mountains ; and said to the mountains 
and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him 
that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the 
Lamb." 

When he, who all along for these years of waiting and 
inviting has been wearing the form of gentleness and 
peace, shall have changed his visage, and put on his 
form of justice and vengeance — when he, who has been 
pleading as an advocate, shall show himself as the judge 
to pronounce sentence upon the ungodly — w T ho is there 
that will be willing to confront him ? who shall be able 
to stand ? 

It seems melancholy to end our study of God's word 
with such a picture of threatening. There are better 
verses than these for us to repeat to each other. Oh, 
how much finer and gladder is that prophecy of the 
saints' rest in heaven with their Lord, the Lamb ! 



260 THE LION OF JUDAH. 

" The Lamb shall lead them." At home in heaven. 

"Therefore are they before the throne of God, and 
serve him day and night in his temple : and he that sit- 
teth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall 
hunger no more, neither thirst any more ; neither shall 
the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb, 
which is in the midst of the throne, shall feed them, and 
shall lead them unto living fountains of waters : and 
God shall wipe aw r ay all tears from their eyes." 

And so it comes to us that believers will not find 
themselves strangers in heaven. For he whom they 
have known best is he to whom they are to stand clos- 
est. He to whom they owe most is he who will give to 
them the more that is coming. The Lamb w T ho made 
them saints is the guide who will make them seers. 
The Saviour for whom they have suffered longest will 
be the Jesus who suffered for them first. And every 
joy of the infinite future will be brought to them in 
the hand which was once pierced. 



XXIII. 

THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 

And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take 
the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to god by thy blood, out of 
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and 
hast made us unto our god kings and priests: and we 
SHALL REIGN ON THE EARTH. — Revelation 5 : 9, IO. 

The sight of a great mass of soldiers is, to a thought- 
ful man, often saddening. They have such exposure in 
doing their ordinary duty ; there is such a necessary 
separateness in their lives ; there are among them so 
many sure to die and lie in unknown graves. Yet each 
is the embodiment of a history, a hope, and a destiny. 
Xerxes is reported as having wept aloud when from a 
height he was once reviewing the largest army he ever 
commanded. 

But when soldiers sing, there is always some enliven- 
ment in the spectacle. Ten or twenty thousand male 
voices make very glorious music ; they say the plains 
quiver with the vibration. When ancient Xenophon's 
hosts first saw the Euxine Sea, after the painful march 
which almost wore them out, they cried with a great 
shout at once, "Thalatta! thalatta /"—"The sea! the 
sea ! " so loudly, says the veracious historian, that the 



262 THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 

God's army always at praise. Faber's " Music." 

very birds dropped down on the wing, and the waves lay 
quiet under the sweep of the sound. 

It is interesting to notice that whenever we are shown 
these pageants of the grand army of God in review, the 
Scriptures represent the legions as singing. And usu- 
ally we find recorded the exact words of their song. 
Evidently more is made of music in heaven than we are 
wont to make of it here on earth. At any rate, the 
words are brought into more prominence than modern 
artists are accustomed to give them. A strain of inarti- 
culate sound has power, but the joining of intelligent 
thought to the tones is worth more by far as an act of 
adoration. Recall some of Faber's lines : 

" There are sounds like flakes of snow falling 

In their silent and eddying rings; 
We tremble — they touch us so lightly, 

Like the feathers from angel's wings. 
There are pauses of marvelous silence, 

That are full of significant sound, 
Like music echoing music 

Under water, or under ground. 
O Music ! thou surely art worship ; 

But thou art not like praise or prayer; 
And words make better thanksgiving 

Than thy sweet melodies are." 

It may be worth while, for the sake of some fine les- 
sons we might hope to learn, to look carefully through 
one of these exhibitions in the Apocalypse. Our atten- 
tion may well be fastened upon that music, for there 



THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 263 

The Lion of Judah. The new song. 

were three anthems in the performance, each with its 
distinct theme, and all were succeeded by a chorus of 
one word, the shortest and the best of all. 

We have already been over the earlier part of this 
fifth chapter of the Revelation, and have seen the grand 
spectacle as it appeared when the Lion of the tribe of 
Judah took the book of divine decrees from Jehovah's 
hands. It was at this supreme moment that the celes- 
tial singing began. 

The scene grows dazzling as one proceeds in the read- 
ing ; and while a writer might well be humiliated at the 
poverty of his own language in any attempt to para- 
phrase it, the exceeding beauty of the inspired descrip- 
tion lures him forward in the study of its details even to 
the smallest particular. 

1. There was first the believers' song. Its theme was 
redemption, the salvation of the soul through the blood 
of the Lamb. So its singers were the ransomed : " And 
they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take 
the book, and to open the seals thereof : for thou wast 
slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of 
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; and 
hast made us unto our God kings and priests : and we 
shall reign on the earth.'* 

This song was " new" necessarily, for the theme was 
absolutely fresh in celestial history. There had been 
sin in heaven, and there had been justice wrought on 
those who had sinned. Some of the angels had fallen 
from their high estate, and were at the moment expi- 



264 THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 

The redeemed singing alone. Personal reminiscences. 

ating their wickedness in the abodes of the lost. No 
atonement was ever made or offered in their behalf. 
Here was therefore a subject never before celebrated in 
the songs of God's house. 

It was exclusive also, for only those who knew what 
it meant could sing it with the spirit and the under- 
standing. Emphasis must be laid upon the expressions 
of personal acknowledgment. " Thou hast redeemed 
us:" " thou hast made us unto our God kings and 
priests." The experience of each child of God is indi- 
vidual. Reminiscence is a part of his duty, and it al- 
ways leads to gratitude, and starts a new song. No 
man can sing as heartily as he who has received most 
favor. Says the Psalmist: " I waited patiently for the 
Lord ; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He 
brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the 
miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established 
my goings. And he hath put a new song in my mouth, 
even praise unto our God : many shall see it, and fear, 
and shall trust in the Lord." We could reason legiti- 
mately, therefore, that the song of the saints in heaven 
would be sung by saints alone. But a verse there is 
elsewhere which sets this at rest : " And they sung as it 
were a new song before the throne, and before the four 
beasts, and the elders : and no man could learn that 
song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, 
which were redeemed from the earth." 

It was a great song. For the multitude of singers was 
simply innumerable. So the sound rose " like mighty 



THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 265 

Sixteen missionaries. "A royal priesthood." 

thunderings, and the voice of many waters." The re- 
deemed come from all regions of the earth, and from all 
ages of history. I once heard sixteen foreign mission- 
aries singing together the hymn, " Thus far the Lord 
hath led me on," to the tune of " Hebron," each using 
the native language where he had been laboring. It 
sounded harmoniously, and was about as intelligible as 
choirs generally make it. What a glorious heritage of 
worth the church has in its continuous history ! 

It was likewise a royal song. It is a pity that our 
translators put that present tense into the future. For 
the redeemed do not say "we shall reign," but "we are 
reigning." Christians are the regal and the regnant 
race in the world now. The Lord declared that his peo- 
ple should be "a kingdom of priests." Peter calls be- 
lievers " a holy priesthood," and afterward, in another 
place, "a royal priesthood." The glory of each Chris- 
tian is in this office of prayer ; for he has an undoubted 
power and privilege of intercession. When the embassv 
from the northern army returned from Rome to make 
report, they said : " We found a city of palaces, and a 
kingdom of kings." Heaven is a city of only one pal- 
ace, in which are many mansions ; but those who dwell 
there are princes. 

2. Next in John's vision came the song of the angels. 
The theme of this was the character and rank of Jesus 
Christ. 

Observe the vast numbers of the singers, and the stress 

they put on their strain with a " loud voice : " "And I 
12 



266 THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 

The angels sing also. Glory to the Lamb. 

beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round 
about the throne and the beasts and the elders : and 
the number of them was ten thousand times ten thou- 
sand, and thousands of thousands." 

Observe the vast ascription of honors to Christ : " Say- 
ing with a loud voice, Worthy is the lamb that was slain 
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, 
and honor, and glory, and blessing." This seems to in- 
clude everything that mind can conceive of supreme 
ownership and control. They lay the universe down 
at his feet. These heavenly beings are acting in full 
obedience to the apostle Paul's earthly exhortation : 
" Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ 
Jesus : who, being in the form of God, thought it not 
robbery to be equal with God ; but made himself of no 
reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, 
and was made in the likeness of men : and being found 
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became 
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Where- 
fore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him 
a name which is above every name : that at the name 
of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, 
and things in earth, and things under the earth ; and 
that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is 
Lord, to the glory of God the Father." 

Observe the special reason they suggest for their sur- 
render. It is as " the Lamb that was slain " that they 
exalt him to the eminence. These angels had no part in 
the atonement, but they knew just where Christ's great- 



THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 267 

The angels challenged. The creatures' song. 

est exploits had been done. They had for ages " desired 
earnestly to look into " this mystery of his humiliation ; 
now they understood what it meant. Just before Jesus 
left the bosom of the Father, on his way to suffering and 
death, while even the lowliest garments of his humilia- 
tion were on him, they had been challenged to pay him 
the usual adoration : " And again, when he bringeth in 
the first-begotten into the world, he saith, And let all 
the angels of God worship him.' , As if the Almighty 
would say, "You shall not even now despise my Son ! 
though he is bearing sin and shame and contumely, give 
him every honor as the chief in the realm ! " Now they 
saw him coming to his old place and glory again ; and 
they knew that the Lamb of God had brought fresh 
honor to his adorable name. 

3. Then the choir of creatures begins the anthem as- 
signed to them ; and now the theme is the dominion of 
the Lord Jesus Christ: "And every creature which is 
in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and 
such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I 
saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be 
unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the 
Lamb for ever and ever." 

Just notice the very singular voices employed in this 
choir. Birds and beasts, and worms and fishes — oh, 
wonder ! how will such creatures be able to sing to- 
gether ? God is to listen, and he will understand them 
and be satisfied. Much of this world's music must be 
lost to us, our hearing is so very imperfect. Scientific 



268 THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 

Imperfect hearing. The chorus. 

people calculate the swiftness of insects' wings in their 
flying by the musical note the vibration makes in the 
air ; but there comes a time when the most delicate ear 
fails to perceive sound, while the small creature cer- 
tainly goes on in its path. That note God hears, but 
we do not. Most likely God hears and loves what does 
not ever reach us ; our silences may be full of singing 
to him. 

4. Now we reach the grand chorus with which the 
singing concluded. Led by representatives, whose mys- 
terious nature and office we cannot altogether explain, 
it would seem as if the whole three choirs burst forth 
into one final ascription: "And the four beasts said, 
Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and 
worshiped him that liveth for ever and ever. ,, 

So intricate and perplexing is this whole question 
concerning those beings here seen in the presence of 
God, that it would only divert our study from its profit- 
able purpose if we went in upon it. A passage, quoted 
from a previous chapter, will give us all the information 
we really need : 

"And before the throne there w r as a sea of glass like 
unto crystal : and in the midst of the throne, and round 
about the throne, were four beasts, full of eyes before and 
behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the sec- 
ond beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a 
man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. And 
the four beasts had each of them six wings about him ; 
and they were full of eyes within : and they rest not day 



THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 269 

The " beasts." The Ghizeh pyramid. 

and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Al- 
mighty, which was, and is, and is to come. And when 
those beasts give glory, and honor, and thanks to him 
that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, the 
four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on 
the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and 
ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 
Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor 
and power : for thou hast created all things, and for 
thy pleasure they are and were created.'' 

Here was the entire universe engaged in a song. For 
if the " beasts," or " living creatures," were like the 
cherubim, and so were the symbols of supremacy and 
excellence of the redeemed world ; if they had the head 
of an ox, and of an eagle, and of a lion, and of a man, 
and so were the chiefs of the races on the ground or in 
the air — and if they thus stood for all things alive, after a 
removal of sin's curse — then the song was sung in tre- 
mendous unison by all who shone that moment in the 
shadowless presence of God. 

Here was an anthem in one word. And "Amen" is 
the same in all human languages. Two travelers sat on 
the summit of the great pyramid at Ghizeh ; they tried 
in vain to get into conversation until one exclaimed, 
" Hallelujah ! " and the other answered, " Amen ! " 

Here was the universal endorsement of the themes of 
all the songs at once. For a?nen means, "so be it." It 
was the old word chosen when the vast tribes of Israel 
gave their assent to the law of Moses, and the covenant 



270 THE SINGING LEGIONS OF GOD. 

A satisfied realm. The Amen of peace. 

from Joshua: "All the people said, Amen." Hence, 
here in heaven, it was the acquiescence of all creation. 

There must have been some sort of preference in 
Jesus' mind for this singular word. "Verily, verily/' is 
in the Greek simply "Amen, amen." It is a particle of 
intense asseveration. Twice in one verse of prophecy 
is Jehovah addressed as "the God of Truth ;" but what 
is there rendered "truth" is Amen; he is "the God of 
Amen." Here in the Revelation Christ is called "the 
Amen, the faithful and true Witness." He is the God 
of absolute truth, the King of the kingdom of truth ; 
" For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in 
him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." 

Here, then, was the last doxology of a satisfied realm, 
that the Lamb of God was going hereafter to rule. This 
w T as the calm rejoicing of a universe, which had reached 
good government at last ! " The kingdoms of this w^orld 
are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ ; 
and he shall reign forever and ever ! " 

Oh, there is rest for the tired heart in that sweet glad 
Amen ! There is peace for all the singing soldiers of 
God in that Amen ! There is solace for the disturbed 
foreboding mind in that Amen ! Oh, there is infinite 
satisfaction for the universe in that Amen ! It makes 
one feel like falling down, as the elders did, and wor- 
shiping him "that liveth forever and ever." 



XXIV. 

THE HEAVENLY CITY. 

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down 
from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for 
HER HUSBAND. — Revelation 21 : 2. 

Has any authentic and authoritative description of 
heaven ever been given us, so that we may rest in the 
notion we form, and may pass it on to our children as 
the true one ? Are we quite certain that they understand 
how a tree can grow up in a golden pavement, and how 
a river can flow out from under a throne ? Do gardens 
have city- walls and solid gates for defences, with jewels 
of marvelous size for their foundations on the out- 
side ? 

Evidently such florid orientalisms of description are 
not intended to be exact and literal. But if not, what 
is there about heaven ? 

Some people cling to their old child-thought of a lo- 
cality beyond the stars, a region above the bounds of 
human vision, w T here a city is built, or a paradise is laid 
out. They talk about the " Father's house with many 
mansions ; " and they take great comfort in thinking how 
the redeemed are walking in its courts. They even im- 
agine they hear Beulah bells ringing in their wakeful 



272 THE HEAVENLY CITY. 

The renewed earth. Heaven begins below. 

midnights, as the sound of singing voices comes from 
over the river. 

Others think that heaven is just this earth new, 
cleansed at last from its curse, and fitted again as it 
was in the days of Eden bloom to be the home of the 
sinless and happy sons of men. They quote the verse 
from the Apocalypse which relates how John saw the 
New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 
and resting here on this purified planet, with its founda- 
tions garnished with precious stones, with its gates of 
pearl, and its streets of gold. It is clear that they are 
never at all troubled with the literal form of expression 
which asserts that this city comes " out of heaven," so 
as to feel pressed with the question, where is the 
" heaven " it comes from, and does it leave the heaven 
behind when it comes ? Or does the heaven come 
along, the kingdom following the capital ? 

Others still say that Scripture does not mean to teach 
us to expect a localized heaven at all. They would pro- 
nounce it a mere fancy, grown out of a mistaken inter- 
pretation, to assert that somewhere above our heads, 
in the fire-lit line of our Saviour's departure from the 
mount of ascension, there is a fixed place to which the 
good are going and gone. They believe heaven is only 
a state ; a renovation of our nature, so that each has an 
individual heaven in his own breast, into which Jesus 
Christ comes and is formed an indweller ; and they will 
tell us that happiness consists not in any harps of gold, 
or sprigs of palm, or anthems of music, but in a meek 



THE HEAVENLY CITY. 273 

Heaven in the heart. Reserves of Scripture. 

and holy disposition characteristic of the sanctified 
heart, when fully turned to the Saviour. If this be the 
true notion of a " better country,'* then our fulness of 
joy will consist in rest from toil, victory after warfare, 
glory succeeding suffering, bliss after pain, and peace 
after turmoil and care of daily exposure. 

One thing is certain : however men may differ, they 
must come to a single conclusion finally ; that, although 
the Bible is crowded with hints as to the superior bless- 
edness of the abode of God's people, yet it nowhere 
gives us an explicit account of its nature or locality. 
Here revelation is simply silent in its reserve. 

Speculative discussions must prove profitless, for the 
Lord God has not designed to make clear anything be- 
yond the fact that heaven will be all the redeemed will 
need or will wish. " I shall be satisfied, when I awake, 
with thy likeness." Still, let us see whether there may 
not be gained something from a little group of verses in 
the Apocalypse, which will reward our study. We are 
certainly all agreed upon a few points. 

1. For example, this : Heaven must be a very splen- 
did place, when one really does get there. All the de- 
scriptions unite in exhibiting the brilliancy of the city's 
adornment : " The building of the wall of it was of jas- 
per ; and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 
And the foundations of the wall of the city were gar- 
nished with all manner of precious stones. The first 
foundation was jasper ; the second, sapphire ; the third, a 

chalcedony ; the fourth, an emerald ; the fifth, sardonyx ; 
12* 



274 THE HEAVENLY CITY. 

Celestial jewels. The London painting. 

the sixth, sardius ; the seventh, chrysolite ; the eighth, 
beryl ; the ninth, a topaz ; the tenth, a chrysoprasus ; 
the eleventh, a jacinth ; the twelfth, an amethyst. And 
the twelve gates were twelve pearls ; every several gate 
was of one pearl : and the street of the city was pure 
gold, as it were transparent glass." 

Here are reflecting surfaces, and shining substances, 
and radiant materials of structure, multiplied in ex- 
haustless profusion, each calculated to catch and repeat 
the extraordinary light which falls upon them. Like a 
room of mirrors, this entire abode of God will send 
back the images of his glory. What a flood of sunshine 
such a conception flings out upon the glooms of our 
earthly life ! Indeed, there is something very signifi- 
cant in the way in which the Scriptures offer these pic- 
tures of glittering splendor among the consolations of 
spiritual grace. It is like a beautiful setting to a won- 
derfully precious gem. The old prophets are foremost 
in this. "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not 
comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair col- 
ors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will 
make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbun- 
cles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones." 

In the London Exhibition there was once a beautiful 
painting, representing a mother on her knees in her 
desolate chamber, beside the body of her little child. 
Her face rose to just such a height that she looked across 
the edge of the coffin straight toward an open window, 
through which the western sun was streaming rays of 



THE HEAVENLY CITY. 275 

Mourning all ended. Wider worship in heaven. 

lustrous twilight, kindling the whole sky with superna- 
tural silver, purple, violet, and gold. Her eyes were 
arrested with the wonderful sunset ; and the legend un- 
derneath the picture was what perhaps she might have 
been repeating to herself: "The sun shall be no more 
thy light by day ; neither for brightness shall the moon 
give light unto thee : but the Lord shall be unto thee 
an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory; thy sun 
shall no more go down ; neither shall thy moon with- 
draw itself : for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, 
and the days of thy mourning shall be ended." 

2. Again, we are agreed on this : religious life here 
fits us for a wider and grander experience of worship in 
heaven. On this earth it seems absolutely necessary for 
our poor weak faith, and especially our dull imagination, 
to have something tangible to aid in ordinary service of 
God. But in that celestial city it will be only a glad- 
ness to see Christ face to face, and we can afford to dis- 
dain all sensuous emblems and helps: "And I saw no 
temple therein : for the Lord God Almighty and the 
Lamb are the temple of it." 

It may not be worth while to call our churches " tem- 
ples," but we certainly do need edifices, and we think 
they ought to be expensively beautiful. It is perhaps 
true that our aesthetic sense may be made tributary to 
devotion ; at any rate, one would think a few of our 
buildings might be put to better use by proper archi- 
tecture, so that they would lift us nearer and nearer to 
heaven. 



2^6 THE HEAVENLY CITY. 

A Canadian church. Luminous color. 



Most of us have heard of that fine structure in a 
Canadian city, every point of which presses upwards, 
and teaches a lesson as it rises. The foundation must, 
of course, be put on the earthly rock, but step by step 
every line of the plan struggles away from it. The 
tower grows slender as it goes into the serener air ; the 
steeple surmounts that, till it is ready to be lost in a 
spire ; so likewise the spire soars on aloft in sweet sun- 
shine until it is crowned by the figure of a tall angel in 
white ; and the angel also keeps looking upward, and 
even his hand is extended, and the slender index-finger 
points heavenward — heavenward — still ! 

3. Further, we are all agreed in this : the supreme 
excellence of heaven is found in the presence of our 
Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, whose revelation illu- 
mines it. " And the city had no need of the sun, 
neither of the moon, to shine in it : for the glory of 
God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." 

The one sight to be seen will be Immanuel with the 
many brilliant crowns on his head, and the rainbow over 
his throne. It cannot be possible for earthly writers to 
gather more figures or similitudes of speech for use in 
description, than has been done oftener than once in the 
Old and New Testament, just to show radiancy and flash- 
ing of luminous color. We are absolutely bewildered 
to know what jewels are meant by some of those which 
are mentioned in the account of the foundation stones 
of the Celestial City. No sun is needed, no moon is 
needed ; indeed, pains are taken to state that not even 



THE HEAVENLY CITY. 277 



Number of inhabitants. " No mean city.' 1 

a " candle" could be put into use. For the light all 
comes from one who calls himself "the bright and 
morning star." 

4. Next to this, we are all agreed that the number of 
heaven's inhabitants must be very large. Most pitiful 
and inadequate is the notion of Christ's atonement which 
would make the achieved results of it diminutive. What 
do Christian people mean when they preach about " the 
small moiety of the elect ? " A " nation *' may be born in 
a day, when God's grace is in exercise. And all realms 
are to be put under tribute for souls. The north will 
give up, the south will not keep back: "And the na- 
tions of them which are saved shall walk in the light of 
it : and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and 
honor into it." 

All ranks and conditions will be there : David the 
king, Joseph the ruler, Philemon the master, Onesimus 
the slave. When the apostle is telling the story of 
Abraham's faith, he takes occasion to intimate what a 
blessed issue it had in the generations following : 
" Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good 
as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, 
and as the sand which is by the seashore innumerable." 
We need not belittle our inheritance, nor underrate the 
companionship we shall share when we enter into it. 

Paul once said, perhaps a little proudly, when they 
challenged him concerning Tarsus, "I am a citizen of 
no mean city." And what should a Christian say when 
talking of heaven ? Is it necessary for due modesty 



278 THE HEAVENLY CITY. 

Access always free. Henry Martyn, 



that he should grow deprecating, and speak as Lot did 
of Zoar, " Is it not a little one ? " 

5. Again : we admit and proclaim widely that access 
to heaven is positively free at all times to all persons 
who will come into it in the right way. " And the gates 
of it shall not be shut at all by day : for there shall be 
no night there. " 

One word here used settles the condition of admis- 
sion ; it is the " saved " who are welcomed. Salvation is 
the theme of heavenly songs. Penitence for sin, faith in 
the Saviour, surrender of one's life — these are the steps 
of the redeemed ones coming home. They involve some 
measure of sacrifice. One must cut loose from a fair 
world around him, and turn his hope unto Christ. " If 
ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are 
above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." 

That is not always easy, for earth is near and heaven 
seems far off. "It is an awful, an arduous thing," wrote 
Henry Martyn from his field of mission toil to dear 
friends in England, "to root out every affection for 
earthly things, so as to live only for another world/' 
Such conflict is not unusual. But diligent discipline 
can do much to relieve it. 

6. We are also agreed that all worthy gains of this 
life are perpetuated and welcomed in the other. When 
Constantine established Constantinople as the capital 
city of his vast empire, he beautified it — indeed, history 
says he almost builded it new — out of all the other chief 
towns in the world he ruled. He took pictures and stat- 



THE HEAVENLY CITY. 279 

Constantinople. Earth's " bubbles." 

ues, columns and carvings of edifices, and pillars and 
mosaics, away from every foreign owner, and put them 
in his metropolis. He forced all the kings of the earth 
he had conquered to contribute the very best they had. 
That may have seemed hard for the vanquished in those 
times. But here we see that the Christian is only in- 
vited to add his gathered treasures to his own home. It 
is the privilege of believers to make heaven happier : 
" And they shall bring the glory and honor of the na- 
tions into it." 

What are the true honors of kings ? Surely, not these 
factitious fames and titles, these monuments and col- 
umns and arches, of which they seem so proud. Croe- 
sus left his wealth all behind him ; Nero could not save 
his palace by burning it up ; Cheops gave a pyramid 
for the world's riddle ; Pompey's pillar is out on the 
lonely hill in Alexandria still ; and Cleopatra's needle 
has been once already lost at sea. "The earth hath 
bubbles as the water hath, and these be of them." What 
are royal believers permitted to bear away with them, 
and contribute to the joys of heaven ? 

Our acquisitions of worthy knowledge may go along with 
us into the other life. Our powers of investigation will 
not be impaired ; and we shall have a better chance for 
study then than now. 

Our memories also will continue active. " Son, re- 
member." Zaccheus will not forget the sycamore-tree 
he climbed in order to see Jesus ; and Bartimeus will 
often think of the gate of Jericho. 



280 THE HEAVENLY CITY. 

" Clothed upon." The Waterloo question. 

Our affections will be worth saving, and they will add 
very much to the heavenly enjoyment for most of us. 
We shall know the friends that went away from us, and 
they will be glad when we meet them. Heaven is to 
be a place for " knitting severed friendships up." The 
parted and the pure shall be joined together again. 

This must be what the apostle means when he says, 
" not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon." 
We shall lose nothing worth keeping ; we shall gain 
much better worth having. The inhabitants of that 
other life have been called our " high-born kinsmen." 
There is a blood-relationship between us. It kindles an 
enthusiasm in the tamest soul to remember that they 
most likely know what we are doing here, and quite ap- 
preciate all that is honorable and valiant and true in 
our behavior. So it is well to refer to this often. " Our 
very thoughts are heard in heaven." What will be the 
judgment of us in those pure minds ? On the eve of the 
battle of Waterloo, it is related that Wellington sent all 
around through his army the question, " What will they 
think of us to-morrow in England ? " 

7. Then, finally, we are agreed that everything will 
be excluded from heaven which will bring discomfort 
or retain taint of sin : "And there shall in no wise enter 
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever work- 
eth abomination, or maketh a lie ; but they which are 
written in the Lamb's book of life." This is the official 
proclamation. 

There is something quite novel, as well as exceedingly 



THE HEAVENLY CITY. 28 1 

Negative descriptions. No more " vigils." 

interesting, in these negative forms of presentation we 
discover in the Scriptures. If there is a confessed mys- 
tery in the statements as to what we shall find in the 
Celestial City, surely we ought to be grateful for being 
told so plainly what will never, never, be found there any 
more. Take away from our earthly lot just one item, 
that of illness — undoubtedly the fruit of sin — and how 
commonplace, but how welcome, is the verse of old 
prophecy: "And the inhabitant shall not say, I am 
sick : the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven 
their iniquity. ,, 

"O mother !" said a crippled boy, when they talked 
to him, by his bedside of suffering, concerning the heav- 
en to which they hoped he would go — "O mother! 
shall I be straight then ? " And she simply quieted him 
down with the text : "Then the eyes of the blind shall 
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. 
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue 
of the dumb sing." 

Remove this curse of deformity, and weak will, and 
diseased body, and depraved taste, and constitutional in- 
firmity, and oh, how much goes with it ! Leave sin be- 
hind, too, and we begin to breathe freely. No more 
watching ; no more dreading ; no more shames in the 
daytimes ; no more vigils in the night ; but all free and 
safe ever! "And God shall wipe away all tears from 
their eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain : 
for the former things are passed away." 



282 THE HEAVENLY CITY. 



A western city. The "afternoon" land. 

In a word, so far as we can now see, the new life is 
just ordinary human life with a new heart ; and heaven 
is just this worthy existence of ours with all its blessed 
gains and enjoyments, forever rid of its sufferings and 
troubles. Heaven is only the projection of the best 
which the human heart can conceive into an unhindered 
experience where it can go on limitlessly in the light. 

Once, in a western town, they told us that the beauty 
of it lay in its suburbs and environs. And one of the 
enthusiastic residents remarked, as we admired the main 
street in particular, and especially commented on the 
fine show it made at the upper end upon the hill, " Oh, 
yes ! it is much more beautiful across the river ! " Then 
he showed us how beneath steep banks a deep and rapid 
stream was running athwart the path just ahead. But 
he went on : " These same streets are continued over on 
the other side ; but they have more room there ; so the 
yards are finer, and the fountains are loftier, and the 
edifices are more substantial ; indeed, it is wonderfully 
beautiful on the hillside yonder, especially in the after 
part of the day, when the long sunshine is falling ! " 

Well, then, is it true that all the streets of this life are 
continued in the other across the dark river ? Do the 
gardens grow fairer, and the fountains finer, as the im- 
mortal road runs on ? Is it going ever to be said of us 
Christian travelers, as the Laureate sings of those whom 
only his imagination saw on the journey: 

" In the afternoon they came unto a land 
In which it seemed always afternoon. " 



XXV. 

THE FINAL PRAYER. 

He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quick- 
ly ; Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. — Revelation 22 : 20. 

Any one who stands on the heights overlooking the 
sea close by Sandy Hook will be struck by the apparent 
hurry and huddling together of the vessels as they push 
in toward the narrows. Wherries and skiffs, steamers 
and yachts, all the craft, large and little, are pressing 
eagerly forward as if to make the harbor earliest. 

The same picture comes to one who watches the clos- 
ing in of Scripture scenes and themes, as the revelation 
of God reaches its conclusion. There is certainly a 
rapid rushing of events, a swift driving together of di- 
rections, a strange repetitious energy of expression in 
the promises, all calculated to fix in one's mind the 
thought that these celestial voices are soon to be silent, 
and the great book from heaven is to receive its impres- 
sive " finis." 

" Even so, come, Lord Jesus," is the small invo- 
cation just before the benediction which dismisses the 
universe from worshipfully looking upward after new 
disclosure. Its characteristic force as a prayer does 
not all appear at once. Certain peculiarities will re- 
ward a patient study of its meaning and pertinency. 



2o4 THE FINAL PRAYER. 

An inspired prayer. Importnnateness. 

1. For example, it is a prayer offered under inspiration. 
It was conceived and lifted by the beloved disciple, who 
once lay in the Saviour's bosom ; he would know how 
to pray, if any one did. 

i. How brief it is in its measure ! Seven words : one 
for each color in the rainbow, one for each note in a 
song, one for each of the days in a perfect week : not at 
all too much, not at all too little. All the pattern pray- 
ers of the Bible are very short. " Lord, save us : we 
perish ! " " Remember me when thou comest into thy 
kingdom ! " " O that Ishmael might live before thee ! " 
" God be merciful to me a sinner ! " "I Come quickly ; 
Amen. Even so, come ! " 

2. How comprehensive it is in its doctrine ! It says, 
" Lord, come," for John knew who was his Master, and 
was certain he was a divine being. It says, "Lord 
Jesus," for John knew who was his Redeemer, and un- 
derstood that he was thoroughly a man. It says in the 
outset, " even so," for John had been tossed so much on 
the turbulent and boisterous seas of experience, that he 
had learned the grace of acquiescence perfectly. It 
says, "come quickly," for John remembered many a 
sweet communion, and longed once more to have his 
beloved teacher return to his side again. 

3. How importunate it is in its spirit ! The entire 
chapter rings with that one word "come." The Spirit 
says it ; the Bride says it ; and whosoever hears the 
others say it, is to say it himself. One's imagination is 
arrested ; it is like listening to those slow, sweet, smooth 



THE FINAL PRAYER. 285 

Falling chimes. The isle Patmos. 

chimes that fall from a neighboring belfry, stroke by 
stroke, as the evening worshipers move tranquilly to- 
ward the door. Slower and slower, but clearer and 
clearer, the vibrations seem to speak to us, as they are 
growing fewer and more lingering, with an increase of 
pleading, as if impatient to be heard and heeded. 

4. How direct it is in its address ! Evidently John 
was weary and growing lonesome. It is said that this 
wretched island of Patmos used to be pleasanter than it 
is now. The pilgrims and anchorites of the middle 
ages may have made it so for a while. Once in history 
it was called "Palmosa," or the Palmy Isle; there is 
on it now just one palm, travelers say, and that is in a 
valley which, in memory of the apostle, has been named 
the " saint's garden." In John's time, however, it de- 
served the description that Suetonius gives to it, "a 
bleak and desolate spot, fit for banished exiles." And 
this prayer of the sad and lonely man shows that he felt 
certain that only the company of the Lord Jesus could 
enliven a neighborhood so forlorn and dull. So he said 
"Come." 

There cannot be any objection to our making this in- 
spired petition our pattern, its brevity and its compre- 
hensiveness, its importunity and its directness, all being 
so commendable. There are moods and tenses of hu- 
man experience for which it is fitted well. It must have 
sounded sweetly at Patmos when the wind was high, 
and the clouds hung low, and the waves were moaning. 

II. Observe, in the second place, this is the last prayer 



286 THE FINAL PRAYER. 

Last things. The temple of God's word. 

in the Bible. John was the last of the apostolic band, 
and this was certainly the last prayer he ever put on the 
unchanging record. 

Last things always have great significance ; the last 
leaf of autumn, or the last bird before the winter snows 
come ; the last Indian of a fading race ; the last words 
of a friend, the last caress before estrangement ; the last 
visit of New Year's ; the last bill a spendthrift flings 
away from his scattered fortune. Our imaginations 
sometimes fasten on what is likely to be on ahead ; the 
last Lord's Day for any one of us ; the last sermon we 
shall hear then, or the last hymn we shall help to sing. 
It would be difficult for one to explain just why these 
things affect him so mournfully. 

In this instance the impression is not at all sad, but 
the rather exhilarating ; for we have a kind of satisfied 
interest in a completion which fitly closes any great en- 
terprise. We like what is well done clear to the end. 
The ancient fathers wept for very joy as they saw the 
top-stone of the temple finished at last, and brought 
forth into its place with shoutings of " Grace, grace," 
unto it. And he must be a dull Christian, who, having 
watched this grand beautiful edifice of inspiration rising 
slowly but surely in its courses of Pentateuch, prophecy, 
psalm, proverb, gospel, epistle, is not now fairly kin- 
dled into enthusiasm in his emotions as he discovers 
how fitly such a wonderful masterpiece of the Apoca- 
lypse crowns it at the summit. " The law of the Lord is 
perfect." 



THE FINAL PRAYER. 287 

The Bible ends with prayer. John's old age. 

And how fine it is that the word of divine grace closes 
with a prayer — and such a prayer ! Around through all 
its circles of intelligent thought runs this spirit of inspi- 
ration : predictions, and songs, and apothegms, and rit- 
uals ; but at last, rising with a supreme devotion, as 
"fire ascending seeks the sun," it calmly turns its di- 
rection toward the Godhead whence it had its source. 
"In the beginning, God : " so the Scripture starts out 
in its revelation from heaven, and it continues with the 
inspiration of God's Spirit through both Testaments : so 
here it ends with a call for another dispensation of God's 
Son : " Even so, come, Lord Jesus ! " 

III. Observe, once more, this is a prayer raised by an 
aged Christian ; indeed, it is the final act of his honored 
public life. 

It is well known to us all that the beloved disciple 
lingered in this world long after all his comrades were 
dead. When this Apocalypse was written, sixty years 
had elapsed since Christ had ascended from the Mount 
of Olives. Through all John's rough vicissitudes he 
had been marvelously spared for fresh service. He 
came to so great an age at last, that the foolish story 
was revived concerning him which he had hoped for- 
ever to silence when he added an extraordinary chapter 
to his gospel. There had been reported for some time 
among the churches the absurd tradition that our Lord 
actually promised him immortality. This he had taken 
pains to contradict at the time. "Then went this say- 
ing abroad among the brethren, that that disciple should 



288 THE FINA*. PRAYER. 

False report about John. Christ's ascension. 

not die ; yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die ; 
but, If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to 
thee ? This is the disciple which testifieth of these 
things, and wrote these things : and we know that his 
testimony is true." 

Of such a mysterious remark, made by our Saviour, 
John would of course retain a most vivid remembrance. 
It did not say that Jesus would return before he should 
die ; but it did not deny him the privilege of hoping 
such might be the case. This unusual length of days 
may have encouraged him much. It is difficult to de- 
cide what were the real views of the apostles as to our 
Lord's advent. John certainly believed that Jesus was 
coming back some time, or he never would have prayed, 
" Even so, come, Lord Jesus." 

He was not praying for mere death. Job once said : 
" Oh that God would grant me the thing that I long for, 
even that he would let loose his hand and cut me off ! " 
That is a very different petition from this. The patri- 
arch longed to find death ; the apostle may have longed 
to avoid death, by hastening the revelation of his be- 
loved Lord and Master so that he might see him again 
in the flesh. 

He had reason enough to believe this to be a lawful 
prayer. When he with the others stood looking after 
Jesus as he rose into the parted skies, two men in white 
apparel suddenly exclaimed : " Ye men of Galilee, why 
stand ye gazing up info heaven ? this same Jesus 
which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so 



THE FINAL PRAYER. 289 

Fontenelle's remark. Prayer on a promise. 

come in like manner as ye have seen him go into 
heaven." 

Surely, every aged believer should be content to say, 
"Thy will be done;" but there could be no more ap- 
propriate prayer for one well on in years than this. No 
one wants the pains of death, for their own sake, if he 
could be delivered from them. Better by far would it 
be for him and for all of us if we could be among the 
company who shall escape dying altogether, and be 
found alive at Christ's coming, and be caught up into 
the air at his right hand ! If he is ready, why should 
not he want to be forever with the Lord ? "I am about 
to decamp," said the aged Fontenelle ; " and I have sent 
all my heavy baggage on before me already ! " 

IV. Observe, in the fourth place, this is a prayer on 
a promise : nay, more ; it is a promise changed into a 
prayer. 

Suppose a skilful archer should catch a flying arrow 
in the air before it fell, and fixing it in his bow instantly 
should send it back whence it came ; this would be very 
much what Matthew Henry says in his quaint, forcible 
way : " Whatever God gives you in any promise, be sure 
to send back to him in a prayer." 

Note the language of this passage of Scripture just as 
it is in our version : " He which testifieth these things 
saith, Surely I come quickly ; Amen. Even so, come, 
Lord Jesus." One little felicity among the rest is lost 
in the rendering. The particle of asseveration in each 
instance used is the same. The word rendered " surely " 
13 



2gO THE FINAL PRAYER. 

" Surely " and " even so." Prayer from experience. 

is the exact word rendered "even so." That mere vo- 
cable of this beautiful language is like a ring of gold in 
which the promise and the prayer are linked together. 
Jesus says, " I come surely ; " so John says, " Oh, surely 
then, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly ! " 

V. Observe, still further, that this was a prayer founded 
in a long reach of extended experience. There is no other 
way of accounting for its daring intelligence and impas- 
sioned pleading. 

John had once been at Jesus' side in the flesh. And 
now for some weeks he had been looking into heaven 
through an open door of pearl. From his Gospel and 
Epistles we easily infer that his was a nature of pecu- 
liarly penetrating and delicate mold. He had had ex- 
ceedingly rare opportunities of increase in learning and 
growth in grace. So we are rightly led to conjecture 
that he was probably one of the loftiest and most spirit- 
ual Christians that ever lived. Of all who are men- 
tioned in the New Testament church, he seems the 
most profoundly versed, the most deeply read, in the 
wonderful revelations of divine things. He had his 
choice among them always. 

Now here we find this favored man suddenly prompted 
to raise his last mortal prayer. The crowning moment 
of his life is reached. Gazing straight into the open 
door of God's own heaven, he is invited and inspired to 
make his final request. What will he ask ? Shall he 
seek more information concerning the divine purpose ? 
Can he know now, if he will, the story of the angels, 



THE FINAL PRAYER. 291 

John's highest wish. Rutherford's last words. 

their revolt, and their fall ? Is it within his reach at 
this supreme moment to learn where Moses was buried, 
and whither Elijah went in the whirlwind? Can he 
hear some more singing ? Can he see some more shin- 
ing of seraphim's wings ? Can he talk some more with 
the elders, wearing golden crowns ? Is it true that all 
heaven is wide open to this beloved disciple, and he 
may satisfy his wistfulness or his curiosity ? What will 
he want more ? With all his vast experience, what is 
he going to seek in the last prayer he lifts before he 
enters heaven ? 

Nothing: only a dearer sight of his Lord Jesus Christ! 
Only a nearer companionship with his Redeemer. Not 
one of the glittering glories of that Celestial City be- 
sides ; not one of the tender memories of earth besides ; 
only this : " Come, Lord Jesus ! " 

How high a soaring faith may go, even here on the 
low earthly footstool of God's majesty ! How freely a 
bright experience of the new life may gaze into the in- 
effable mysteries of eternity ! And yet this is all it 
comes to, "Give me now a full, fresh revelation of 
Jesus Christ ! My eyes would see the King in his 
beauty, and behold the land that is far off ! Whom have 
I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that 
I desire besides thee. Show me, O Lord, thy glory ! " 

" The bride eyes not her garments, but her dear bridegroom's face; 
I will not gaze on glory, but on my Lord of grace; 
Not on the crown he giveth, but on the pierced hand — 
The Lamb is all the glory of ImmanuePs land !" 



292 THE FINAL PRAYER. 

The test prayer for all. "Come, Lord Jesus ! " 

Two simple reflections seem to have place here, now 
that our study has covered the meaning of this wonder- 
ful petition. 

i. A prayer like this is singularly appropriate as a test 
in every Christian's time of self-examination. "Yet a 
little while, and he that shall come will come, and will 
not tarry." Are we individually ready to meet him? 
Are we actually praying for his appearance ? Does it 
frighten us to think he may be here very soon ? 

2. A prayer like this is exactly the prayer for every 
unconverted person to offer. It is a prayer founded on 
a promise. Let us look carefully at the surprising dia- 
logue which is recorded in this same chapter. Jesus 
speaks first: "And, behold, I come quickly; and my 
reward is with me, to give every man according as his 
work shall be." 

Then we hear the responses at once : " And the Spirit 
and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say, 
Come. And let him that is athirst, come : and whoso- 
ever will, let him take the water of life freely." 

To whom does the Spirit say, Come ? To whom does 
the Bride say in the same word, Come ? To whom is 
he that heareth the Spirit and the Bride saying Come 
also to say, Come ? These prayers are addressed not to 
sinners, but to Christ — Come, Lord Jesus ! But now 
note that right in the middle of the sentence the sense 
changes: "Come, Lord Jesus! And whosoever will, 
let him come ! " That is, let any one who will, come to 
the Lord Jesus. So when a man prays for the Saviour, 



THE FINAL PRAYER. 293 

The last benediction. Four books with a curse. 

the Saviour is on the way. Here is the prayer for all. 
Come to my heart, and dwell there. Come to my home, 
and rule there. Come to this poor world, and relieve it 
of sins. Come to thine own people who are waiting. 
Thou hast said thou wilt come : even so, Lord Jesus, 
come quickly. 

And now the last prayer in the Bible is fitly followed 
by the last benediction. " The grace of our Lord Jesus 
Christ be with you all. Amen." It is worth noticing 
that John pronounces here only the name of the Second 
Person in the adorable Trinity. In this he follows Paul, 
who gave a like announcement : " Unto them that look 
for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto 
salvation : " and then supplemented it with a like bless- 
ing : " Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus 
Christ in sincerity." 

There are four books in the Old Testament which 
end with a curse : Isaiah, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes > 
and Malachi. The Hebrew scribes were always accus- 
tomed to repeat the verse just before the last in these 
cases so as to close their reading with something better 
than a malediction. But the New Testament needs no 
such relief. The last vision of Jesus that John saw 
showed him with his hands outstretched for a blessing 
at Bethany : and the last word he speaks for Jesus at 
Patmos is the benediction he left. 



XXVI. 

THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 

Thou therefore which teachest another, teachest thou not 
thyself ? — Romans 2 : 21. 

In his conversation with Nicodemus our Saviour 
enunciated the principle to which all Christian useful- 
ness must eventually be referred ; namely, that religious 
instruction, in order to be effective, must grow up out 
of one's personal experience. A careful exposition of 
the passage from which our text is taken will show that 
it offers likewise an illustration of the same rule. 

The model Pharisee of primitive times imagined he 
was reaching the ultimate height of excellence when he 
could call himself a Jew ; he asserted for himself the 
most edifying orthodoxy ; he presented his life as the 
pattern of flawless morality and eminent devotion ; he 
claimed extraordinary keenness in discrimination, ap- 
proving only what was excellent ; he contemplated 
himself as sublimely equal to any exigency of public 
station ; he could inform the ignorant, illumine the 
darkened, give counsel to bewildered adults, and help 
forward untaught children, being fully conversant with 
all the ritual and all the creed. 

Yet with all these assumptions the apostle seems to 
have discovered that which led him to Tate such a crea- 



THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 295 

Religious instruction. Living experience. 

ture as a mere spiritual quack ; and he here denounces 
him with terrible violence. This man, so earnest against 
thieving, had a touch of dishonesty ; so stern in press- 
ing the penalties of the seventh commandment, had 
some sins which would look ill under scrutiny. In a 
word, he was instructing others with no word for him- 
self. And, again, with great detail of illustration so as 
not to be misunderstood, St. Paul reiterates the grand 
principle of the Gospel : religions instruction is to be in- 
dorsed by the living experience of the instructor. 

This is the theme upon which I propose now to ad- 
dress my fellow-workers in the Sunday-school. A few 
general considerations will render the point sufficiently 
clear. 

I. Consider, first, the great common need under which 
humanity lies. It has pleased God to make men instru- 
ments of good to each other. Hence the proclamation 
of the gospel is necessarily experimental. No con- 
verted man has really anything more to say than this : 
" Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will de- 
clare what he hath done for nry soul. ,, 

There is singular advantage in this method, if only 
faithfully carried out. It invokes all the power of sym- 
pathy. It renders one man influential over many. It 
saves material. It stimulates exertion. Men are always 
moved to action in their own behalf when they find 
others, once confessedly in the same category, now re- 
lating and commending the means of their extrication. 
Naaman was just the person to tell lepers of the prophet 



296 THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 

" Physician, heal thyself." Conscience mysterious. 

in Samaria, who had bidden him go wash in the Jordan. 
Bartimeus was just the right one to lead blind men to 
Jesus, who had opened his eyes. Hence, it is perfectly 
natural that we demand of him who teaches us that he 
should first have felt the truth he proffers, that he should 
have experienced the good he promises, that he should 
have obeyed the command he is urging. We instinct- 
ively question the right of any individual to address us 
upon those grand matters of personal salvation, unless 
he can say as Christ did, " We speak that we do know, 
and testify that we have seen." He is in as great peril 
as we are ; he is in as much need as we are ; and we 
say, " Physician, heal thyself!" 

II. Consider, in the second place, the aim of all reli- 
gious instruction. The conscience must be reached, and 
through its monitions the entire life must be influenced, 
or else all teaching is wasted. And with unregenerate 
people, conscience is seared more or less in every case 
where the soul has so far passed from mere infancy as 
to attain the exercise of free will. Great ingenuity is 
required in order to reach it ; something more than in- 
genuity is required in order to arouse it. Even then it 
is often misunderstood. 

Nothing appears so mysterious as the forms of opera- 
tion which this inner monitor chooses. Sometimes it 
seems to render a man harder and more violent ; and 
yet at that very wildest moment he is nearer yielding 
than ever before. Sometimes it melts a man into deep 
emotion ; and yet we painfully discover afterward that 



THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 297 

Faces in water. Scriptural variety. 

this has been mere ebullition of excited feeling. The 
main question to be answered with all teachers is this : 
How may we learn to discriminate in these confusing 
manifestations ? 

The answer is much easier than many are inclined to 
suppose. We cannot grow skilful in distinguishing 
these external shows, without diligent studies of our 
own internal experience. Conscience must be watched 
in its working within our hearts. " As in water, face an- 
swereth to face ; so the heart of man to man." But face 
does not answer to face exactly ; features of children 
differ, and expressions of countenance are flitting and 
fitful. Still, the number and the name of the linea- 
ments are on every face the same. On general princi- 
ples, that truth is most effective, which, having proved 
itself forceful in reaching our own consciences, goes 
from its success there directly and unhindered upon the 
intrenchments of another. And let it wear all its awful 
power undisturbed ; when it has the divine doctrine of 
repentance to utter, it would be folly to change even its 
raiment of camel's hair, or cover the coarseness of the 
leathern girdle about its loins. 

III. Consider, again, the variety of forms employed in 
Scripture instruction. " All Scripture is given by inspi- 
ration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the 
man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto 
all good works." But then, how much there is of it! 
One becomes bewildered and embarrassed in the midst of 
13* 



298 THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 

Sailors' medicine-chest. Testing one's drugs. 

such riches. There is room for any amount of skill in 
discriminating what doctrine or what principle or what 
precept to apply in each given case to insure most good, 
and avert all evil. 

Now, it is no reproach for me to utter, when I assert 
that many of our Sunday-school teachers are at a loss 
here. Are there none, even in this day of light, w T ho 
turn over the pages of God's word helplessly in search 
of some reply to an inquiring soul ? When the tossed 
world is drifting, and a passenger lies at the point of 
death, are there none who hurry boldly to the Bible, as 
a sailor to the medicine-chest ; and yet stand appalled 
at the formidable array of spiritual drugs, any one of 
which possibly might be helpful or hurtful, if only they 
could know which ? How can we learn what truth to 
employ or what phases of truth to present ? There surely 
can be but one reply to this question. 

Let the Scriptures be studied experimentally. Let the 
Christian teacher re-work every principle he oilers to 
others, first into his own mind, and out-work it into his 
own life. It will not be long before he will have gone 
over most of the moods and tenses of religious feeling 
he will meet. It might not be safe that every physician 
try the effect of his prescriptions upon himself first ; but 
for spiritual cures there is no process that can be more 
confidently commended. " Out of the abundance of the 
heart the mouth speaketh." 

IV. Consider, furthermore, the power of a godly exam- 
ple. The common law of influence cannot be expected 



THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 299 

*' Living epistles." Inconsistency betrays. 

to fail, just because the force exerted has in some cases 
become salutary. The habit of the human heart is in- 
veterate. Men are imitative, and in nothing so much as 
religious observance. Moreover, they insist upon iden- 
tifying a moral teacher with what he teaches. Espe- 
cially under the gospel will they have it that Christians 
shall incarnate the truth they urge on others, and shall 
become the personal embodiment of it with all its pre- 
dicted results. They will not suffer a limping man to 
propose an effective cure for lameness. 

Bear in mind that the world has this much of a show 
of unusual reason in the case of the followers of Christ ; 
he expressly taught that they should be accepted as 
illustrations and exemplifications of the Gospel. The 
force of one sentence in the Sermon on the Mount turns 
upon the insignificant word, "*&." " Let your light 
so shine before men, that they may see your good works, 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven." "If, 
therefore, the light that is in thee be darkness, how great 
is that darkness ! " In like manner, the apostles taught, 
" Ye are living epistles, known and read of all men." 

Hence there can be no inconsistency so utter as an 
inconsistent Christian teacher presents. There can no 
failure be more ridiculous in the eyes of a ribald world 
than that of a man who urges a truth and lives a lie. 
But, on the other hand, whenever fully possessed of the 
power of the gospel, pervaded with its spirit, and ra- 
diant with its light, a grand life goes about doing good, 
that life has a majestic driving force to it almost unlim- 



300 THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 

A good man's shadow. A lens of ice. 

ited. Men bend subdued to an influence which they 
cannot comprehend, but which they know is safe, and 
which they feel they can trust implicitly. Finer picture 
of human greatness there is not in the Bible than that 
of Simon Peter, when the multitudes brought out the 
sick on couches, that they might lay them where at least 
his shadow could fall on them. Oh ! believe me, this 
poor world has been deceived cruelly a great many 
times, but it is yet intelligent enough to recognize its 
best benefactors. There is no one thing it loves more 
to abide under than a good man's shadow — the only 
shadow on this planet that renders it more luminous 
except the shadow of the Almighty wing. 

V. Consider, in the fifth place, the law of the Holy 
Sfiirifs action. Truth is propagated not by transmission 
through mere symbols, but by radiation through con- 
ductors in contact. 

The lens of a burning-glass will not only suffer the 
free passage of the sun's rays, but will condense and 
concentrate them, until the focus they fall upon bursts 
into flame ; meanwhile the lens itself will remain per- 
fectly cool. Wonderful experiments of this sort have 
been performed with even a lens of ice, which kindled 
a fire and continued unmelted. You can find nothing, 
however, in religious matters to which this phenomenon 
would answer. The torch, not the burning-glass, is the 
emblem of spiritual life ; it flames while it illumines, 
and is warmed as it sets on fire. He influences others 
most who has been nearest in contact with Christ. 



THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 3OI 

The Holy Spirit's indwelling. A sealed book. 

Thus the Holy Ghost becomes an indweller. This is 
the meaning of the word spirituality ; it signifies the 
presence of the divine Spirit. And there surely remains 
no ignorance in any mind as to the absolute necessity 
of his presence in order to all Christian usefulness. 
Without him we can do nothing. "If any man have 
not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." No reli- 
gious teacher can give more than he gets, nor commu- 
nicate more than he possesses. I will not deny that the 
Holy Ghost sometimes works immediately upon the 
human heart ; what I urge now is merely that when he 
acts upon another heart through ours, he does it by en- 
tering abidingly into ours. And ordinarily he influences 
the conscience next to the teacher's, by moving the con- 
science of the teacher. Thus the efficient impulse is 
seen to grow up out of experience. 

Whichever way we look, then, we reach the same con- 
clusion. The heart lies behind the hand which proffers 
religious truth. The practical importance of this prin- 
ciple cannot be over-estimated. Let us now search for 
points of contact which it finds in Sunday-schools. 

1. We learn here the proper use to make of the Scrip- 
tures. All religious instruction must be received ex- 
perimentally. Thus the Bible becomes personal in 
every one of its utterances. How is it now? "The 
vision of all is become unto you as the words of a book 
that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, 
saying, Read this, I pray thee : and he saith, I cannot ; 
for it is sealed : and the book is delivered to him that 



302 THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 

Geographical fact. Legh Richmond's remark. 

is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee : and he 
saith, I am not learned." What is this that renders the 
learned and the unlearned together so at fault ? Surely 
not want of education, but want of experience. 

It may be worth knowing, as a geographical fact, 
that there is no water in the Kidron valley save after a 
shower ; it may be important to learn, as a historic fact, 
that Capernaum was located at Khan Minyeh ; but this 
is not what is going to save souls. We need to read the 
divine word with a deeper sense of its spiritual meaning. 
We must transmute facts into principles ; we must in- 
carnate doctrine in daily action ; we must embody truth 
in life ; we must reduce vague information to vital and 
available help. 

2. We learn to distinguish between gift and grace. 
Mere intellectual gift sometimes even hinders grace. 
" Christ," said Legh Richmond, " may be crucified be- 
tween classics and mathematics." It is not our want of 
aptitudes for doing good which stands in our way, half 
so much as it is our want of communion with God. 
The rule is, " Oh ! taste and see that the Lord is good ! " 
Out of this experimental acquaintance with truth grows 
our power fitly to offer it. Only thus can we learn to 
recommend the various viands on the table of the gos- 
pel feast. Scholarship becomes a means to an end. It 
is not the show of splendid attainments, but the hidden 
force of piety underlying them, which affects the souls 
we hope to influence. 

The gospel light is much like the solar light ; its 



THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 303 

Chemical ray of the spectrum. Teachers in black. 

beauty is not its efficiency. You may divide the sun- 
beam into seven beautiful colors, and not one alone nor 
all together will imprint an image on a daguerreotype 
plate. Just outside the spectrum, in the dark, there is 
one entirely invisible ray, called the chemical ray, which 
does all the w T ork. No man ever saw it, no man ever 
felt it ; and yet this it is which bleaches and blackens a 
dull surface into figures of loveliness and life. I care 
not how luminous a man's personal or intellectual qual- 
ities may be ; if he lacks, amid the showy beams that 
are shining, this one which is viewless — this efficient but 
inconspicuous beam of spiritual experience — all his en- 
deavors will surely prove inoperative for good. 

3. We learn here the advantage of seasons of disci- 
pline. In all the round of God's dealing with his chil- 
dren, there is nothing like suffering as an educator. It 
deepens and widens and swells the volume of Christian 
experience, so that the simplest utterance is made effec- 
tive. Ah ! how fine is the promise for good that is com- 
ing, when one wearing habiliments of mourning enters 
a Sunday-school with the wish for a class to teach ! 
"He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious 
seed, shall, doubtless, come again with rejoicing, bring- 
ing his sheaves with him." 

Anything that loosens the hold of the soul on earthly 
things, and just shuts it up to God, is valuable ; but, as a 
preparation for usefulness, is priceless. Any man ex- 
pert in sea-life could have said all that the apostle said 
when he came fqrth to quiet the sailors in the midst of 



304 THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 

Paul in the ship. Plague in Ireland. 

a shipwreck. The force of his counsel lay not so much 
in the prudence of what he suggested, as in the expe- 
rience which was embodied in it — that "long absti- 
nence " in which he had received his vision. One mys- 
terious but remembered hour there was which gave his 
speech all its efficiency. "And now I exhort you to be 
of good cheer : for there shall be no loss-of any man's 
life among you, but of the ship. For there stood by 
me this night the angel of God, whose I am, ,<and whom 
I serve, saying, .Fear not, Paul ; thou must be brought 
before Caesar : and, lo, God had given thee all them 
that sail with thee. Wherefore, sirs, be of good cheer ; 
for I believe God, that it shall be even as it was told 
me." It is just this. Just, this, which is the element of 
power in any counsel. The angel of experience is sent 
to one, and then he is ready to say, " I believe God ! " 

4. We learn the secret of all success, and the explana- 
tion of all failure. It would seem at first sight that 
truth is efficient in itself ; that the gospel sword has an 
inherent thrust, no matter who wields it ; and that all 
which needs to be done is merely to bring it in contact 
with human necessity. But now we understand that 
first it must pass through the teacher's experience before 
it can be expected vitally to influence those who are 
taught. He who fails, lacks in experience ; he who 
grows in it, succeeds ; that is, he who teaches another 
teaches also himself. f 

When the plague was raging in Irel and, tae priests 
gave out that if any man would take fr^om his own fire 



THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 3C5 



Calvin's seal-motto. Palestine relics. 

a piece of burning peat and light his neighbor's fire with 
it, he would deliver the family from an attack of the 
disease. The whole region was instantly alive with 
brands passing to and fro. Oh ! if superstition could 
do this much, ought not zeal to do more ? But the 
kindling was to come from one's own hearthstone then ; 
and the kindling must come from one's own heart now. 
Calvin's seal-motto was a hand holding a heart on fire, 
with the legend, " I give thee all, I keep back noth- 
ing ! " What we need beyond every other earthly need 
is, to have our entire level of Christian experience lifted. 
We are too busy about appliances and instruments and 
places and theories. 

My fellow-workers, suffer me one word. Twice in 
my middle life I have been at the ends of the earth. 
This hand , that writes to you has plucked olive leaves 
from the old tree in Gethsemane. I have a piece of a 
pyramid that I brought away from Egypt. On my table 
lies a canteen of water which I dipped from the Jor- 
dan. Alas ! how little use I can make of these now ! I 
showed them to our Sunday-school many weeks ago, 
and that is about all I can do with them. And here I 
am back on the old ground again, facing my task. All I 
have really to work with, I find, is my experience of the 
Saviour's love. And that is the result, not of my jour- 
neys, but of my prayers. 

5. We learn the last essential of preparation for teach- 
ing. We must have the presence of the Holy Ghost. 
You see this most evidently in the case of the apostle 



306 THE TEACHER TAUGHT. 

Chrysostom's picture of Paul. Paul at L^ stra * 

who penned our text. " Thus," says Chrysostom, " thi ls 
man, three cubits high, became tall enough to touc^h 
the third heavens." They called him Paullus, because" 
he was little. He had a distemper in his sight. H ls 
bodily presence was said to be weak, and his speec-'h 
contemptible. 

But no man ever equaled him in power as a religic )us 
teacher. He held up before the world the most unwel- 
come and despised truth of the new gospel. He tur" ne d 
it round and round in his hand, as his own soul ro se *° 
a full comprehension of its magnitude. He bound to it 
all his learning ; he wreathed around it poetry anc* phi- 
losophy ; he warmed it with all his fiery ardor of ' £e< m P ei> 
ament ; until, in the supernatural rush of his eloquence, 
his diminutive body was forgotten, his bent fori 1 was 
straightened, his weak eyes were glowing, "his t/sitant 
utterance became fluent ; and Saul of Tarsusjt, wi 1 a ^ nis 
passions and all his disabilities and all his siir» was lost 
in the inspiration of Paul, the ambassador of t ie hvmg 
God ! No wonder that the simple-minded mult tu de of 
Lystra thought he was a deity, and brought fc ~ g" ar_ 
lands and oxen to sacrifice, saying, in the spee* °* Ly- 

caonia, " The gods be come dowm to us in tht keness 

v 
of men ! " 

Oh ! for a baptism of the Spirit on us and or ur chil- 
dren, that should fill us with a like experieno anc * in- 
sure for us a like success ! 



XXVII. 

FOUR PILLARS C*F THE CHURCH. 

And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pil- 
lars, PERCEIVED THE GRACE THAT WAS GIVEN UNTO ME, THEY 
GAVE TO ME AND BARNABAS THE RIGHT HANDS OF FELLOWSHIP ; 
THAT WE SHOULD GO UNTO THE HEATHEN, AND THEY UNTO 

THE CIRCUMCISION. — Galatians 2 : 9. 

Our studies have led us along over the lives and liter- 
ary work of four apostles, to whose joint labors we owe 
the l?*-ger part of the New Testament. One of them, 
Paul, when writing to the Galatians, says that James, 
Peter, and John " seemed to be pillars " in the church 
at Jerusalem. Either of them might afterward have 
made the made remark of him. What he meant was 
most felicitously conveyed under such a figure. And 
we should not be far out of the way if we grouped to- 
gether all these men whose writings we have been study- 
ing, and called them " pillars " for the sake of the sup- 
port they offered, and the adornment they gave, in the 
grand edifice of the Christian temple. 

I. Paul comes first in the order. He wrote thirteen 
of the epistles, perhaps fourteen : Hebrews is in discus- 
sion still. 

We can tell an artist by his style ; we could recognize 
the nature and characteristics of this great man by these 
letters very readily if we had nothing else. But the his- 




308 FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 

The apostle Paul. The apostle _, * 

a 



latL^ 

t 



tory in the Acts is full of graphic incidents in his pt 

sonal career likewise ; and we have learned to know tl 

small-bodied, large-minded apostle quite thorough] 

No writer has ever lived who more distinctly impres :< 

himself on his books. " Style is the man." We 

J m are 

actually familiar with a personality so bold and di . 

guishable from the very beginning. 

He had been in early life a bigoted Pharisee. p 

sionate and revengeful, threatenings and slaughte 

so natural to him, while he was persecuting the i 

of Christ, that the inspired historian uses a vio^ f ^ 

ure of speech to say he was " breathing ther^i ou> R 

when he became a preacher of the new fait, ! , , 

^ m Ih, n7:hole 

demeanor changed. Paul was, without doi( , 

s ' /ibt, tluost 

thoroughly converted man whose biograpl 

in the Bible. 



ly is reded 



II. Next in order w r e entered upon the . 

1 .stud 1 one 

lesson from the epistle of James. ( 

This single letter is all we have from b 

& Us peiiut a 

most striking composition it is. Taken a), 

& r llone, 'just 

as it stands, it seems a little cold and unsp. . 

*)intua't in- 
sists pertinaciously and punctiliously upoi fi , 7 , 

minor moralities. But few would agree vj . . <c / 

uous Martin Luther in pronouncing itL t £ , 

straw.'* That is going too far. s 

Indeed, the more one studies the e} . - $t> f 11 

light of the gospel, the more clearly he * c ^ , 

strong, rugged teacher was earnestly cc ^^ f 

sistency in behavior up to the entire lr .^ts VeS ;_ 



FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 309 

Genuine piety. Simon Peter. 

formation, before he should waste himself in enthusias- 
tic gushing after that which was quite beyond his attain- 
ments. This apostle rightly bore the name of " James 
the Just." He is supposed to have been a close relative 
of our Lord himself ; some say he was his brother. A 
calm, practical common-sense runs through all he says. 
He was intolerant of mere pretension. He was utterly 
set against sham. You may not like his somewhat stern 
dealing ; but you are certain there is no veneering upon 
his speech. He is undoubtedly genuine, to say the 
least of him. One can rest upon his candor, even if he is 
not won by his gentleness of zeal. And while people are 
fretted by such plainness, it remains indisputably true 
that if everybody would do as James says he ought to 
do, everybody would be a better and a happier man. 

III. Simon Peter then met us on the threshold of his 
two letters like a welcome old friend. 

There seems an indescribable pathos in all the senti- 
ments of this singular apostle. We see his modesty in 
giving counsel; he is "also an elder;" nothing more. 
But no man ever worked out his conclusions through a 
deep experience more absolutely than he did. He knew 
of what he wrote. 

He feels that his antecedents are somewhat against 
him. His whole life has been full of conflict. It has 
cost him much to achieve even a little headway in grace. 
Impulsive and inconsistent, vacillating and irresolute, 
but affectionate and tender-hearted in every action, he, 
like Paul, had to labor to keep his body under, lest he 



3IO FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 

Luther's opinion of Peter. The apostle John. 

should become a castaway. Once he went so far ahead 
of Jesus in an unauthorized defence of him that our 
Lord had to work a miracle to retrieve the mistake. 
And right after that, he followed Jesus so far off that a 
maid-servant taunted him into swearing to a lie of de- 
nial. All the time, this man draws us to him ; he is so 
loving and so artless. He is the most human man in the 
Bible. " Whenever I look at Simon Peter,'* says the 
enthusiastic Luther, " my very heart leaps for joy. If I 
could paint a portrait of this apostle, I would paint on 
every hair of his head — ' I believe in the forgiveness of 
sin ! ' " 

IV. After this, John furnished us with matter for nine 
of the twenty-five lessons. 

No inspired writer could more fitly have crowned our 
feast of fat things. This old and lonely, but cheerful 
and gentle man, gave us the benefit of visions passing 
mortal conception. If we had been asked to name the 
apostle most likely to receive such extraordinary favor, 
and most fitted to use it for edification in the churches, 
I think we should all have pointed out the exact one 
whom the Lord chose. It is not wise to speak of John, 
as many do, as an affectionate and effeminate, a long- 
haired, white-faced weakling, all gush, and all mysti- 
cism and softness. He was called a " Son of Thunder " 
because he was so full of force ; a being of unmistaka- 
ble fervor of energy and fire of disposition. He was a 
man, however, of deep spiritual penetration, and most 
likely went farther into the experimental meaning of 



FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 311 

Diversity of gifts. " Stir up " gifts. 

what his divine Master revealed than any other one of 
the twelve followers he selected. 

Thus, then, these four pillars of the church stand be- 
fore us for our contemplation. Some thoughts for a 
review may possibly be suggested by the picture. 

1. For example, we see that the widest diversity of 
gifts can be employed to advantage in winning souls to 
Christ. 

It would hardly be possible to sketch four characters 
differing more in essential particulars than these apos- 
tles. Paul was the theologian of the early church. 
Peter had an undeniable headship in organization. But 
James -brought his cool temperament into service in de- 
cisions involving difficult points of casuistry, while John 
was of all the best calculated to labor for spiritual emi- 
nence in the converts. Now when results are before us, 
no one could venture to pronounce which was the most 
useful in the grand work Christ gave them all to do. 
Each was the best for his own work. The rule for our- 
selves would be found in Paul's advice to Timothy. He 
gives this in two forms : " Neglect not the gift that is 
in thee ;" and then again : " Stir up the gift of God 
which is in thee." We must take it for granted that the 
Lord never chose any one for work without bestowing 
on him some sort of a gift for practical use. This he is 
to " stir up," and this he must not " neglect." 

2. So this would suggest a second lesson : failure in 
one particular field or sphere of action does not preclude 
great after success in another for the same man. 



312 FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 

Early failure. Subsequent success. 

It will be remembered that Paul found poor welcome 
in the beginning of his ministry. His antecedents, like 
Peter's, were against him. He had been lately too vio- 
lent in his persecution of the saints. The members of 
the new churches stood aloof: "And when Saul was 
come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join himself to the 
disciples : but they were all afraid of him, and believed 
not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, 
and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them 
how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had 
spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at 
Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was with them 
coming in and going out at Jerusalem." 

Still, it w T as evident that he would be always under 
suspicion in the capital where Stephen had been stoned, 
and wherever he should attempt to work among the 
Jews. It was expedient for him to go away at once 
among strangers. His faithful friend clung to him in 
his present fortunes, and bore him company. Just here 
the verse we are studying now comes in : "And when 
James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, 
perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave 
to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship ; that 
we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the cir- 
cumcision." Thus it was that Paul became a preacher 
to the heathen far from all his early and patriotic asso- 
ciations. As a home missionary he was a failure. The 
Lord had other work for him to do. 

It is not every Christian's duty to enter the ministry, 



FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 313 

Following Providence. Individualities preserved. 

or superintend a mission-school. He may have a higher 
aptitude for something else. It is better to let Provi- 
dence decide without any setting of our hearts upon a 
favorite work. " Some people," so I once heard a 
preacher say, " follow Providence as a man follows a 
wheelbarrow, pushing it on before him." Most of us 
have known a few Christians who fixed their wills on 
succeeding in enterprises which we honestly believed 
were never designed for them. By and by, the Lord 
puts all this right, and they find their real calling. So 
it is well for us all never to be discouraged ; God's 
goodness will locate our lives in his own chosen 
time. 

3. Then once more : we might learn that the individ- 
ualities of personal character are in no wise destroyed 
by the new life under the gospel. 

Paul, after his conversion, was just as earnest and 
driving as before. James carried his carefulness as a 
Pharisee into his demeanor as a Christian. Peter left 
his boats and tackle to become a skilful fisher of men, 
with the same adroitness and patient business absorption 
put into his fresh profession. So John was affectionate 
to Jesus' mother, because he had grown up affectionate 
to his own. 

Naturalness is one of the best evidences of grace, for 
it excludes assumption and hypocrisy. No one will 
ever succeed in making himself better by making him- 
self over into another man's likeness. The usual failure 
in endeavors at imitation is owing to the fact that human 
14 



3H FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 

Imitation is hurtful. Paul's eloquence. 

perversity almost always selects striking peculiarities in 
a pattern, and then is unconscious of having left out the 
great excellences which gave them their power. So the 
result is only an oddity. 

4. In the fourth place, we see that true religion in the 
heart is a powerful helper in intellectual advancement. 

The history of all these four men affords an illustra- 
tion of the Scripture text : "The entrance of thy words 
giveth light ; it giveth understanding unto the simple." 
We all know how Simon Peter was reared. How is it 
possible that he could reach literary attainments suffi- 
cient to enable him to write two such epistles as those 
which bear his name ? Scholars tell us the}*- are com- 
posed in the finest Greek in the New Testament. The 
explanation is easy. He had been for many years at 
school to Christ. 

Take Paul also : he was taught well at the feet of 
Gamaliel, no doubt ; but his excellences are marvelous 
both as a polemic and as a rhetorician. Whenever he 
spoke or wrote, he made his message sound in the ears 
of men with the loftiness of Isaiah, the devotion of 
David, the vehemence of Ezekiel, and over and above 
these with a stroke and a ring that was his own, which, 
while it comprehended them all, transcended them all, 
and gave to his address a living energy that had no 
equal. " If any man will do my will," said Jesus Christ, 
"he shall know of the doctrine." Obedience is an in- 
strument in grace. 

5. Again, we can learn from these men's biographies 



FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 315 

Personal weaknesses. The ideal Christian. 

and writings that the very best Christian excellences 
may be, unfortunately, marred by personal weaknesses. 

For every one of them was faulty enough to make 
some notable mistake, which has been handed down to 
us in the imperishable record. Paul quarreled sadly 
with Barnabas about Mark. James refused to welcome 
Paul at Jerusalem. John and James both suffered their 
injudicious mother to ask Jesus for pre-eminence for 
them ; and both of them wanted to have fire come down 
from heaven to consume a whole village at once, because 
the people behaved badly. To say nothing of Peter's 
denial, we must remember that on one occasion he dis- 
simulated about eating with the Gentiles, so that Paul 
withstood him to the face as one to be blamed. 

Most unpleasant it is to rehearse such facts. The 
least we can do is to beware of any servile following of 
mere men. Hero-worship is out of place among the 
human beings of the Bible. "Let no man glory in 
men." And as for ourselves, we may remember this : 
" Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he 
fall" 

6. Just a suggestion now, which may or may not be 
called a lesson. Perhaps the ideal Christian might be 
made up of the best excellences in all. 

Put Paul's orthodoxy in doctrine alongside of James's 
morality in behavior ; put Peter's activity in impulse 
with John's extensive experience ; join all these into 
one man. He might not be the coming man of the 
world, but he would be a more efficient man than some 



316 FOUR PILLARS OF THE CHURCH. 

Good in every Christian. "Jesus only." 

who talk about such an one, and far beyond the ordinary- 
standard as things go. We might all study divinity with 
Paul, casuistry with James, zeal with Peter, and spirit- 
uality with John ; it is likely we should gain much in 
every respect. So, practically, we might watch our 
neighbors, not to criticise them ungenerously, but to 
know their strong points with kind, charitable eyes, and 
this to some profit all the time. There is good in every- 
body who is a child of God. 

7. Finally, w r e cannot fail to learn, as the sweetest and 
best lesson of all, that the truest Christians are those 
who are most like their Leader, and most loyal to him 
as supreme. 

It is affecting to hear the denying, dissimulating Peter 
say, near the close of his troubled life, as his best coun- 
sel : " For even hereunto were ye called : because Christ 
also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should 
follow his steps : who did no sin, neither was guile found 
in his mouth." And Paul puts the same thing into yet 
plainer words : " Be ye followers of me, even as I also 
am of Christ." We may take men in the line of the 
Master, if our poor life needs intervening steps. But 
it would be well to forget them utterly, when we come 
near enough to catch glimpses of the Lord. Then, 
when we lift up our eyes, we shall see " Jesus only." 






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